Posted on 10/01/2021 2:59:14 AM PDT by RandFan
People stopped by a lone plain-clothes officer should challenge their legitimacy, the Met Police says.
As it seeks to reassure women after the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving police officer, the Met said it was "entirely reasonable" to demand an officer's identity and intentions.
Wayne Couzens showed a warrant card (badge) and used handcuffs as he kidnapped Ms Everard before her rape and murder.
The Met faces questions over whether chances were missed to stop him.
Couzens, 48, targeted Ms Everard, 33, on a street in south London in March. He has been sentenced to a whole-life prison term.
He had been linked to two previous allegations of indecent exposure.
Policing minister Kit Malthouse said "officers up and down the land recognise the devastating consequences of this event".
"There is a job to be done to rebuild trust by the police, particularly, I have to say, in London," he told BBC Breakfast.
He said it was "reasonable" for a woman with doubts about a police officer's conduct to make "lines of enquiry", but that "won't be appropriate in every circumstance" because officers "seeking to keep us all safe every day need to be able to go about their business".
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick faces calls to resign over the force's handling of the case, as Home Secretary Priti Patel said it raised "serious questions".
Speaking outside the Old Bailey after Couzens was sentenced, Dame Cressida said "a precious bond of trust has been damaged" and she would ensure "any lessons" were learned.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
The thing is, he WAS a real police officer. And we all know what happens to people who resist arrest in any way.
Moreover, he was much bigger and stronger than her, and probably armed at the time.
His fellow officers thought he was mentally “off”, yet his department made him a “firearms officer” (one of the relatively few London officers allowed to be armed) and put him on guarding VIPs. It calls into question their hiring and screening policies.
Or maybe he got in because the real hiring criteria is for people who will follow orders, even if those orders are evil. Which means the department would actively LOOK for sociopaths.
Clockwork Orange
How about giving citizens the means and right to self defense and the right to walk down the street without being accosted by police?
/mordant sarcasm
Regards,
Policy should be that only uniformed officers in a squad car can remove detained person from scene of arrest.
Exactly. The guy had the proper I.D. because he was who said he was.
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