Met Commissioner: VAWG “should be treated the same as terrorism”

[NitroNine]

Yesterday (05/03/24) Mark Rowley, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, told the London Policing Board that the level of VAWG in the UK means it needs to be treated as a threat to national security in the same way terrorism & organised crime are; & also requires appropriate funding to police effectively.

ITV News Coverage (written article)
Evening Standard Article
Channel 4 Tweet
Telegraph Article (archive version)

I mean, it’s not news to anyone here; but the idea it’s sunk in somewhere it counts (in the sense of someone who has agency, influence &c) is somewhat staggering. Whether or not they actually get the funding required is of course a different matter. And it helps if the problem aren’t busily corrupting what’s meant to be the solution, too. This level of public acknowledgement still feels/seems positive to me though - sad as it is, it matters that a man says it; & that The Right Type Of Man says it. Until we live in our glorious utopian matriarchy with JKR as Supreme Leader/Mupwump anyway…

This is obviously good but first of all they need to get their own “house” cleaned up, starting with the recruiting process. Actions speak louder than words.

I hope ScotGov pull their heads out of their arses, sit up and take notice. VAWAG is completely out of control here.

Are the police not a large part of the problem. They don’t believe women. They dismiss our complaints. They laugh about us. They minimise the women who have abusive partners.

This looks hopeful - let's see where it goes.

I was watching a programme on Wayne Cousins last night (having previously watched the Sarah Everard one), and it defies belief that he even passed the scrutiny to apply for the force, let alone continue as a serving police officer when he was known to indecently assault women.

Most men have no idea how frightening something as "mild' as "flashing" can be - when WC exposed his penis to the girl at the McDonalds (I think it was), Mr Viper said "She should have thrown the coffee at him."

I pointed out that as a man he (Mr V) could have no idea how very shocking and intimidating it is to be faced with an unwanted erect penis (or flaccid one for that matter). And what if this man was also violent and she angered him? She doesn't know what he's capable of. He could beat her up, rape her, even murder her if she agreed him. And as we know, this particular perverted, violent man, did so to Sarah.

I think that decent men, not faced with a simmering undercurrent of sexual violence on an almost daily basis, don't realise how terrible it is - whereas violent men, who have gradually tested boundaries and seen women's reactions, know their power only too well. Consciously or not, most women behave defensively almost all of the time. (And often still get blamed when something happens)

Edited for autocorrect

You were brave to watch the documentary @Emotionalsupportviper I can’t see that monster’s face on TV without having to switch off immediately.

It wasn't an easy watch @FrancescaContini . It is terrifying how easily he - slipped through the net is the wrong term - there wasn't any net! And also how many other sexually criminal police officers there were (still are?) in the police force.

The footage of his arrest - the sheer disbelief on his face that he was actually going to be held responsible for his crime (not to mention all of the obvious lies he told - effectively a variation of "A big boy did it and ran away") - sickening. Absolutely sickening.

The fact that there were several occasions in the lead-up to Sarah Everard’s abduction, rape and murder in which the police not only had the opportunity to question and fire him on the spot (on one of the occasions when he exposed himself 🤮🤮🤮 the police knew it was HIS car) means that the police themselves are complicit in his offending. He should have been behind bars years ago, IMO.

The Met has been criticised for being “institutionally misogynist” - so whilst this particular step mentioned in the OP is welcome, what exactly are the Met and all police forces around the UK going to DO?

It is also shocking that the officer charged with investigating WC's indecent exposure accusations, who said that there was no case to answer, also had no disciplinary action taken against him.

It's bliddy unbelievable!

It was the same with the recent documentary on the Murder of Emma Caldwell. If it wasn't for the determination a a reporter, Samantha Poling, that brutal man would still be free to continue brutalising and murdering women. The senior officer in charge of the case just dismissed the killer as a suspect out of hand - would not listen to the detectives at ground level wo had more than enough evidence to arrest him and bring him in for questioning. A detective who continued to try to push for an arrest and thorough investigation was take off the case. The senior officer hasn't suffered any repercussions.

Yes.
Dealing with police officers who commit sexual assault and rape would be a great start. Prosecuting them and not covering up ( retiring ) afterwards would be even better. The fact that it's tagged with a request for more money makes me think it's just a request for cash looking for an excuse to ask. My trust in the police is the lowest it's ever been in my lifetime.
Dumping all of the following : Stonewall, the rights of male officers to intimately search females, recording hate speech incidents that have no basis in law, arresting disbaled women who sticker to preserve women's rights etc.... would all be a much better display of respect to women than asking for more money.

Lets not forget how recently high level police managment codified the rights of male officers to intimately search females into their best practices. That's literally sexual assault. If it ever got tested in court and a ruling was made against the police it would mean the law literally considered it sexual assault not just my opinion.
When they are codifying sexual assault against women into their operating procedures that does not make me believe they are serious when they say they want to end VAWG.
I note too that there has been no corresponding hullabaloo and subsequent U-turn over FtM police officers wanting to intimately search males. It's almost like there's some inate difference between males and females based around invading with force the other sex's intimate boundaries.
Males born with a magical ladybrain seem to have such great difficulty not behaving like males that it almost makes me think the magical ladybrain theory is just a load of complete bollocks.

Yesterday (05/03/24) Mark Rowley, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, told the London Policing Board that the level of VAWG in the UK means it needs to be treated as a threat to national security in the same way terrorism & organised crime are; & also requires appropriate funding to police effectively

Well, he knows where to make a start, doesn't he?

Also, note the also requires appropriate funding to police effectively. Basically laying the ground to whine that the police are underfunded and unless more money's forthcoming can't do anything about that, soz.

I'd like to think the Commissioner is finally listening to researchers like Joan Smith.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/05/many-terrorists-abuse-women-research-extremist-attackers-violent-misogyny

To this day, I don't understand why Khan dismissed her in such a fashion.

https://twitter.com/polblonde/status/1428250942152060932?lang=en

https://womansplaceuk.org/2021/08/23/reinstate-joan-smith-london-mayor/

VAWG is very much a form of sex based terrorism.

The way young men are radicalised is not dissimilar- Andrew Tate for example deployed the same tactics to push boys down a track to become violent, misogynistic men that extremists use the world over to radicalise men & women to become terrorists.

I think it helps to think of VAWG is something that is the result of radicalisation rather than human nature being violent towards those who are weaker, or unavoidable socialisation and sexism.

It is more and can be prevented for future generations if we have the will and the means to change.