Met Police chief Cressida Dick FINALLY admits official advice telling women to ‘wave down a bus’ if arrested by a lone male officer in the wake of Sarah Everard’s murder by servicing PC was nonsense, saying guidance has been scrapped
- Metropolitan Police Commissioner confirmed that the guidance has been axed
- Force was accused of pouring scorn on frightened women earlier this month
- Lawyers warned guidance could see some women Tasered for resisting arrest
Scotland Yard chief Cressida Dick finally admitted official advice telling terrified women to ‘wave down a bus’ if they were arrested by a lone male officer was nonsense today.
The Metropolitan Police Commissioner confirmed that the guidance, which sparked outrage when issued in the wake of Sarah Everard’s murder by serving PC Wayne Couzens, had been axed.
Scotland Yard was accused of pouring scorn on frightened women earlier this month after the London force’s strategy urged them to attract attention if they fear being abducted by police.
It came as Couzens was ordered to spend the rest of his life behind bars for kidnapping, raping and killing Ms Everard in London in March.
Lawyers warned the ‘unrealistic and misconceived’ guidance could cause chaos and in extreme cases see women Tasered for resisting arrest.
They also suggested bus drivers could end up being arrested if they stopped to help.
Dame Cressida initially defended the advice, saying it had been ‘taken out of context’.
But facing the London Assembly’s Police and Crime Committee today she said: ‘I completely understand why that ended up as the headline.
‘It was not intended, and it is not how we see things. Yes we have reviewed it and I think we would address the question differently were it to come again in the future.’
The Metropolitan Police Commissioner confirmed that the guidance, which sparked outrage when issued in the wake of Sarah Everard’s murder by serving PC Wayne Couzens, had been axed.
Couzens was ordered to spend the rest of his life behind bars for kidnapping, raping and killing Ms Everard in London in March.
She announced that under a new plan, plain-clothes officers in the capital will video call a uniformed colleague to confirm their identity when stopping a lone woman.
Wiltshire Police has already announced a similar scheme whereby officers will put their personal radio on loudspeaker and ask their control room to confirm their identity.
Ms Everard was raped and murdered by Couzens, a serving officer who used his warrant card and police-issue handcuffs to kidnap the 33-year-old as she walked home from a friend’s house in south London in March this year.
He had previously been accused of indecent exposure in 2015 and in the days before the murder, and police watchdog the Independent Office for Police Conduct is considering whether the allegations were investigated properly by Kent Police and the Metropolitan Police.
‘What I can say today is that we are launching our Safe Connection, as we call it, which allows a woman who is stopped by such a police officer immediately to have verification that this is a police officer,’ Dame Cressida said.
‘Because my plain-clothes officers will call into a control room, they will then have a video call with a sergeant in uniform who will say ‘yes that’s so-and-so, he’s PC XYZ’. So a quick and easy way which is instigated by the officer, not by the woman having to ask for this.’
Dame Cressida stressed that the onus should be on the police officer to properly identify themselves, and that the bus advice given was ‘if all else fails’ when someone may want to try to get help.
She said: ‘I want to be clear, the onus is on the officer.
‘The onus is on the officer to deal professionally with the person that they are speaking to, and in the very unusual circumstance in which a plain-clothes officer is talking to a lone female, which is likely to be extremely unusual in London, we would expect them to go to every effort first of all to recognise that the woman may feel uncomfortable, to explain themselves well, to identify themselves well.
‘It would normally be the case that they would be in a pair anyway.’
The news came as British Transport Police confirmed it is launching a judicial review over a decision to allow an officer who flashed his warrant card and harassed a lone female jogger to keep his job.
Pc Imran Aftab pestered the woman for her phone number and told her she was ‘too curvy too be Asian’, but only received a final written warning after disciplinary proceedings in York.
On Wednesday a spokeswoman for British Transport Police said: ‘We totally agree this was an appalling incident and as is the case in misconduct hearings, the decision not to dismiss PC Aftab was made by an independent panel, led by a legally qualified chair.
‘We don’t agree with their decision, and as such took legal advice immediately after the hearing in May before instigating a judicial review to appeal this. This is currently ongoing and we await the outcome.’
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