Martin Ward retired from the position of superintendent at Larger Manchester Police in 2006 and believes requirements have fallen within the final decade:
“What we see now with inner police tradition is considered one of “us against the world,” and so they just about pull up the ramparts. [This includes] defending their colleagues towards what they imagine are baseless allegations,” he explains.
Ward continues: “If you look at the opportunities presented to people… what I’m seeing at the moment is officers openly abusing their positions, openly abusing their powers, without care. And somewhere along the line, somebody has got to address this.”
Harriet Wistrich, Director of the Centre for Women’s Justice, assures me that there’s no shortage of potential solutions to police perpetrated domestic abuse: from better vetting standards and data collection when allegations arise, to ensuring abuse from a police officer is investigated independently.
However, she believes that nothing short of rooting out “entrenched cultures that are resistant to change” and making “energetic interventions” will guarantee lasting change. In any other case, she warns: “we’re just going to see more abuse, more abusers getting away with it, more terrible stories and more loss of trust and confidence in policing.”
In response to a request for remark from Glamour, the NPCC lead for Violence In opposition to Ladies and Women and Deputy CEO of the Faculty of Policing DCC Maggie Blyth acknowledged that whereas progress has been made, “change hasn’t been quick enough, and much more needs to be done to ensure women and girls feel safe.”
She assured that policing is working to “root out those not fit to wear the uniform” and foster a tradition that calls out misogyny. She emphasised the necessity for officers to be “upstanders, not bystanders,” and dedicated to implementing adjustments by way of the Faculty of Policing’s new framework for 2024-2027.
*Names and a few particulars have been modified to guard victims and survivors’ identities and security.
Refuge’s Nationwide Home Abuse Helpline 0808 2000 247, accessible 24 hours a day 7 days every week without cost, confidential specialist assist. Or go to www.nationaldahelpline.org.uk to fill in a webform and request a protected time to be contacted or to entry stay chat (stay chat accessible 3pm-10pm, Monday to Friday). For assist with tech abuse go to refugetechsafety.org.
For extra details about reporting and recovering from rape and sexual abuse, you possibly can contact Rape Disaster on 0808 500 2222.
When you have been sexually assaulted, yow will discover your nearest Sexual Assault Referral Centre right here. You can too discover assist at your native GP, voluntary organisations reminiscent of Rape Disaster, Ladies’s Help, and Sufferer Assist, and you may report it to the police (should you select) right here.
Severia Bel is a contract journalist specializing in home abuse and girls’s rights.
