The investigations reveal that there is a lot of racism, homophobia and misogyny among the police. According to female police officers, the “boys’ club” punishes those who complain about misconduct.
In Britain, the actions of the police have recently repeatedly led to headlines that question the credibility of the authorities.
In some police forces, it is admitted at the chief level that there is racism, homophobia and misogyny among the police.
Last week, Police Chief Constable Scotland Iain Livingstone admitted to structural racism, sexism, misogyny and discrimination in its ranks. The reason was an investigation of the Scottish police, which reported extensive problems.
The result was similar in the report published in March that analyzed the activities of the London police. For example, the British traffic police have also publicly admitted that they struggle with attitude problems.
At the end of April, London’s police chief Mark Rowley said that not enough employees have been recruited for police positions partly because of the police’s bad reputation.
The person who complains about bad behavior will be punished by his colleagues
Female police officers who have worked in Scotland say that one of the problems is the police’s “boys’ club”, which takes revenge on co-workers who raise problems.
This has led to people not daring to make complaints about inappropriate behavior or not believing in the usefulness of making them.
– People are punished for raising problems or concerns. For example, they have been left aside within groups or they have been placed in poorly suitable places, the report states.
British broadcasting company BBC has interviewed four women who worked in the police, who talk about similar problems.
One of the interviewees is Rhona Malone, who last year was ordered to pay £1 million in compensation by Police Scotland for inappropriate treatment. The treatment was the result of a sexist behavior complaint filed by Malone.
Two London police officers committed serious sexual crimes
Crimes committed by police officers have their own chapter.
The activities of the London police began to be investigated after the police Wayne Couzens was found guilty of kidnapping, raping and murdering a young woman in 2021. He carried out the kidnapping using his position as a police officer.
Also another London policeman, David Carrick was caught in 2021 for gross sexual crimes against women.
Last year, two of Couzens’ colleagues were sentenced for hate messages they wrote in a Whatsapp group. Among other things, they had “joked” about raping a female police officer.
British Council of Chief Constables Statistics collected by NPCC according to more than 1,500 police officers were accused of violence or inappropriate behavior against women and girls in six months. This is 0.7 percent of the workforce.
The suspected acts ranged from excessive use of force to harassment and sexual crimes. They had been done both during work and free time.
The police arrested protesters at the coronation just in case
The government has decided to give the police more powers to prevent disruptive peaceful demonstrations. After all the scandals, this has not fallen on good ground.
Especially the king of the police Charles’s The example of the treatment of the protesters on the day of the coronation has given weapons to the opponents of the change. The police arrested more than 60 people, some of whom had not even had time to express their opinion before being arrested.
According to the police, these could have tried to disrupt the ceremonies.
And the headlines tarnishing the reputation of the police haven’t stopped even after the coronation held at the beginning of May.
Last week in Cardiff, Wales, police talk about the traffic deaths of two teenage boys turned out to be untrue.
The police publicly claimed that the crowd started rioting at the place of the boys’ death, fueled by social media lies, and the police had not chased the boys who were riding an electric bicycle.
Immediately after this, a security camera video shot before the accident was released, which shows a police car chasing the boys.
The Guardian magazine has published the video On Youtube.
Sources: AFP, AP