‘Reasonable’ to call 999 to identify lone officers says Policing minister

Following yesterday’s sentencing of a serving police officer for the murder of Sarah Everard, minister for policing Kit Malthouse has said it is ‘reasonable’ to call 999 to identify lone officers.

On Wednesday the Old Bailey heard how Everard’s murder pretended to arrest her before raping and strangling her when she vanished in March this year.

In an interview with the BBC Today programme this morning he said: “What many people are asking for is positive action on the ground that they can feel and see, that will make them safer, and that is what we have been about for the last 18 months or so”.

He outlined the government’s ongoing response to the concerns, explaining: “We published a violence against women and girls strategy in July. That contains a number of measures designed to propel this issue to the forefront of Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners across the country. We have appointed a national policing lead on violence against women and girls who will be driving that mission centrally across the country”.

He seemed to downplay the risk of a similar situation arising, saying: “From a reassurance point of view, obviously plainclothes police officers are not deployed singularly,” given that “most officers who effect an arrest will have to call for backup, there will be a radio, there will be verification.”

However, he said that “if women find themselves in those circumstances, it is quite reasonable to make enquiries and seek verification of what the police officer is doing.

In an interview with Sky News this morning, he elaborated, saying that he thought it was ‘reasonable’ to call 999 to identify lone officers.

Jess Phillips, shadow minister for domestic violence and safeguarding criticised the government’s strategy on BBC Radio 4 this morning, saying, “This trust is not going to be built up overnight with a 10 point list of what to do if a police officer approaches you. It is going to built up if we see the government and police forces start to actually take violence against women and girls, and the complaints women make day in and day out, seriously”.

She emphasised that the issue was not a new one, and that she felt previous campaigns for reform had been sidelined, saying: “This is a conversation where women have been saying for some time, even before the death of Sarah Everard, that they don’t feel that they are trusted by the police when they speak up, or violence and crime against them is prioritised”.

She added: “If I was Sarah Everard, I would have got in the car, and I know my rights better than most people” and went on to compare domestic abuse to domestic terrorism.

Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats has today called for a Royal Commission into male violence against women and girls and for misogyny to be immediately declared a hate crime.