Breaking News. an armed 'met' policer officer. guilty of rapes

Met chief says 800 officers investigated over sexual and domestic abuse claims

Sir Mark Rowley announced all 45,000 Met officers and staff would be rechecked for previously missed offending.

bbc news.

Of course not every officer is a bad apple but there are many who cover for the bad apples, turn a blind eye or lack the courage to speak out. When good officers say nothing or are driven out for saying something this is an indication that the rot goes to the core.
Not just the London Met but many metropolitan forces throughout the world. There is predominantly a culture of misogyny.
While those who have good officers in their family take such comments personally, how can we seriously address the problems.

Wow so even GNs who take your comments personally are in the wrong now!d
What do you expect?
My dad was maligned on social media a while back in this way as he was a teacher and I was very hurt.
It is unhelpful to say all police officers in the Met are corrupt or covering up corruption. I personally know a number of Met officers and a few around here and they are certainly not corrupt nor covering corruption up, in fact they are trying to root it out!

The problems in the Met have been there for a long time. My DH was a policeman who was at the miners strike. Many forces were called in and were appalled by the behaviour of some met officers.
It was in the papers about their arrogance setting back relationships with the police.

If you are addressing me Dragonfly please read my post again.
I have not said all officers are corrupt nor have I said that all officers are covering. I’m certain that I said many officers.
Please don’t take this as personal criticism. I was just trying, perhaps clumsily, to say that while many officers are good and decent, many are not good and decent or are too afraid to swim against the tide.
It is true that there are some who are trying hard to change things from within, they have a long, lonely and difficult road to travel. I do know this from personal experience.
While good men do nothing, bad will prevail.

I know certain organisations look after their own but this is just beyond belief.

An anecdote that may shock.
My ex policeman husband and I attended the 40th birthday party of the son of a friend, serving officer in a city force, only a few years ago.
The room was full of serving police officers.
A young girl walked through the room. The comments would make your toes curl.
‘Phwoar, I could give her one.’
‘Wor, she’s asking for it.’
The worst part was when it was realised that this was the daughter of another officer, instead of hanging heads in shame there was raucous laughter.
My husband expressed disgust and told them to show some respect to the women in the room and was told to take me home and give me ‘a good rodding’.
Needless to say we left and caught the next train home.
Before I’m told that those officers are unusual I would just add that many of these men appear to be good decent, polite men outside work. Put them together with a few drinks and …

No I am not shocked by your anecdote LauraNorderr as my husband worked in industry and I have been to similar gatherings where misogynistic men have got together and had too much to drink. It is not just the Met.

It was your initial first line "the Met is totally corrupt and rotten to the core' which I found to be a generalisation.

Female officers suffer misogyny, sexist 'banter' and demeaning remarks on a daily basis.

It's astonishing that this culture was allow to develop further with a female Head of the Met Police.

It has been reported that decent officers are disregarded and sidelined if they try to protest or stop this culture in the force.

There are some men in every walk of life who will behave in this way. It is unacceptable but a far cry from those who will go on to physically abuse women.

It wasn’t my initial first line that you addressed Dragonfly. You accused me of suggesting that GNs who took my comments personally were wrong.
You then said that it is a unhelpful to suggest that all officers in the Met are corrupt or covering up corruption. I made no such suggestion the word I used was many.

The late guilty plea was no doubt not out of remorse but to mitigate the sentence. He knows the system.

While I agree that there are men in all walks of life who display misogynistic behaviour, I can’t agree in any way that it’s acceptable in any walk of life, most particularly in our police service which should lead by example.
It is NOT normal behaviour to objectify women and until we all show complete disdain for this behaviour it will continue.
Not all men who behave this way will go on to physically abuse women but some will when their behaviour seems to be encouraged or condoned at worst and ignored at best.

MerylStreep

*Fancythat & Houseplantqueen*
You keep your rose coloured spectacles on. Believe me, it’s a far nicer place to be than knowing the truth.

How rude are you? Like everyone, I am appalled by what has happened, and been allowed to happen, but to make sweeping statements that ALL of the Police Officers in the Met are the same is ignorant, inaccurate and deeply offensive to those of us with family in the Police.

I have now read back through all the posts on this thread. Not one single poster has said that all officers in the Met or any other force are corrupt or rotten or bad. The accusations have been levelled at the institution.
I’m backing out of the discussion. Impossible to get a point across when words or slights are imagined.

MerylStreep

The Met has always been rotten to the core. The only difference now,is, it’s getting more difficult to cover it up.

This is what offended me. I am still appalled by what has happened, and by the reports of mysogny and crude remarks and behaviour, totally and completely unacceptable, must be dealt with robustly, but please could we stop damning all police officers. Remember, they are now the ones left to deal with the understandable distrust of the public.

HouseplantQueen, nobody on this thread has damned all police officers. Only the institution.
It has to be said that where an officer has been accused of abuse and violence over twenty years and has remained in post something is pretty rotten at the core of that institution.

The son of a close friend has been in the Met for many years, and I’d stake my life that he’s as straight as they come.

I don’t know why some people are so keen to label the whole lot rotten, because of the odd bad apple.

In what profession are bad apples unheard of? I can’t think of any.

The big issue here Witzend- is that honest, straight as them come colleagues, kept stum and protected those they knew full well to be rotten apples and dangerous to women. It was all treated as a bit of a joke! Those who knew, and did not report- have to take some responsability for their inaction.

I thought I’d misheard on BBC news this morning, when they reported that over 800 met officers and staff are being investigated. They’re also systematically examining the records of all employees. This man was investigated for domestic violence and several other matters before even joining the force and yet still managed to pass the supposedly stringent background checks. Did it never occur to recruiters that someone with this kind of history was very likely to use the position of authority for his own ends ? Beggars belief.

I really agree with your post at 10.50 LauraNorder whilst all officers do not commit crimes many are afraid to swim against the tide & want to be seen as one of the boys. Thus the culture is perpetuated. Its very sad to think a great institution has come to this.

apple.news/AweE5BjDQTKGYdTjb7XC8ow

Interview in the Evening Standard with Met Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley. Admits he can’t guarantee that women in the London area will not be speaking to a sex offender when they report crimes, but outlines action being taken to root out offenders.

There is no doubt at all that extreme measures need to be taken to stop the unacceptable behaviour that Lauranorder detailed, truly disgusting.

Police constable who abandoned his duty to have sex with a woman in the back of his van in a supermarket car park while Covid guidance was in place is sacked
PC abandoned duty to have sex with member of the public in the back of his van
The incident happened in a supermarket car park amid 2020 Covid measures
Northumbria Police's Ian Dawson has now been fired and banned from all forces www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11644129/Police-constable-abandoned-duty-sex-woman-van-sacked.html

fancythat

HousePlantQueen

MerylStreep

The Met has always been rotten to the core. The only difference now,is, it’s getting more difficult to cover it up.

My late father was an officer in the Met and I deeply resent your comment

I wasnt too chuffed either.
I used to have a relative in it. He has never been known to bring harm to anyone whatsoever.

Monsters like Couzens and Carrick and their ilk bring the whole force into disrepute. But are they only known to others like themselves? Is there no mechanism for decent officers to call out this behaviour when they realise what’s going on?