Couzens

I have no idea how Cressida Dick is still in a job. The shear level of incompetence she displays defies belief. I can only think she has the dirt on some powerful figures.

Firstly, from a copper's perspective, I and all my colleagues that I have spoken to are as appalled and disgusted as anyone else. Add on top of that the anger that comes when a bad apple is found as it undermines the very work we do every day and makes our job that bit more difficult. At work yesterday, patrolling on my own, even in a marked car, I was wondering just how I could deal with a lone female driver or burglary victim, without causing her anxiety about whether I was trustworthy and safe to be around. I've never thought about that before.
Personally I think Couzens will do himself in if he gets half a chance. It's an awful and shocking case, breathtaking in how calculated it was and his callous disregard for his victim, her family and his own family.
The fact there were known warning signs is a big worry. We have had various training packages and there are regular reminders on posters, the intranet, etc about standards of behaviour- particularly in regard to WhatsApp groups and the like. I don't partake in any at work. I've seen how they can go, seen people lose jobs, in some cases rightly and in others where you think that outcome was way over the top. Our Professional Standards dept will go at these things like a dog with a bone. I find that where I work you certainly can't be very relaxed about what you say or who you say it to. There's always a background "worry" about what might happen. That said, I've seen people lose their jobs so clearly whilst it does get investigated, it does happen. I'm not sure how my force will deal with this in the long term. Psychometric testing? Regular vetting of existing staff? Making it a mandatory requirement your WhatsApp
chats and social media is open for regular vetting? No idea. There's significant considerations around all of that.
In the short term I have read in the press all kinds of knee jerk responses such as officers leaving their warrant cards at work when off duty, letting a member of the public use your radio to speak directly to the control room - some genuine WTF suggestions. Suggesting the person stopped does not comply, runs off or screams and that the public could intervene is another suggestion and is a very, very slippery slope.

On the flip side, and not widely reported in the press, is the praise given to the investigation team by the trial judge about just how fast, detailed and determined they were in bringing Couzens to justice.

It's worth remembering that nobody hates bent coppers more than good coppers.

Thanks for the insight Stu, I appreciate your candour.

I'm baffled by all the suggestions coming out for how you can avoid being in this situation as a female member of the public. For a start if she'd phoned 999 to check he was a genuine officer they would have confirmed as much so how would that have stopped it. Screaming and running away is surely resisting arrest which causes more trouble for both you and the arresting officer.

They suggest you flag down a bus. Have you ever tried flagging down a London bus that isn't at a bus stop designated for their specific service? And are they suggesting that bus drivers are now responsible for helping tackle rogue cops? From what I've seen of him Cousins was hardly a weak little man and I'm sure he'd have known how to deal with someone getting in his way. Equally he was also clearly very manipulative and followed Police procedures during his 'arrest' of Sarah Everard. Do you really think if she'd screamed they'd have helped her or believed the Policeman with his warrant card telling you she was just a troublemaker and asking you to move along?

I think we do need to accept that he was a bad apple and not blame the Met for his behaviour. There will be questions about how his other crimes leading up to the night of Sarah's murder but its hard to see how an accusation of flashing 72hrs earlier could have been investigated quickly enough to stop him doing what he did or be a prediction that he was about to escalate to committing such an extreme crime.

I’d be very surprised if this is the first murder he’s committed.

Well he wasn't very good at hiding it.

The judgement of the police has to be brought into question given his indecent exposure incidents and his nickname. The force needs massive organisational change and for the met that has to start by getting rid of Cressida Dick.

I'v not seen that reported so don't know the context. It's not been mentioned I any articles I have read.

The Met is just too large to be managed under the structure it has. At a minimum, all the national functions it performs (like terrorism) need to be hived off into a separate unit. Then the Met can go back to "just" policing London. Under a new head, as the current one is clearly so far out of her depth as to be shocking.

It’s more in relation to needing further evidence regarding the prostitute at a wedding, that is there was already plenty to go on.

The conclusions were reached a long time ago.

I think the issue is that if a serving officer is nicknamed as he was someone should’ve raised it and explored the reasons. That said I used to park outside the pub outside New Scotland Yard in the 80s and on the few occasions I went in it was just like a scene from the Sweeney - very difficult to tell who was straight, who was bent and who was not on the force. They were all just blokes in a pub.