Refuge respond to Casey report into misconduct & misogyny at the Metropolitan Police

In response to Baroness Casey’s interim report into misconduct at the Metropolitan Police, Refuge CEO, Ruth Davison said:

“Refuge welcomes this interim review and Baroness Casey’s letter to the new Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley addressing misogyny within the Metropolitan police force. These findings reflect what we already know at Refuge, that the Met is failing women and girls by allowing a culture of violent misogyny to continue unchallenged.

This report focuses on the internal culture within the Met, a culture that permeates the external culture and impacts their ability to perform to the standard expected. The police’s sole function is to protect and serve, the question the Met needs to ask themselves is who are they actually serving? Not only are they failing to protect women’s safety but in many cases actively perpetrating abuse against them.

This isn’t the first time the Met have been under investigation and intense scrutiny for their internal culture; black men and women have long been raising the alarm about institutional racism. What has really changed since the McPherson report? Sadly, this report suggests very little has changed, the overwhelming headline is racism and misogyny are still rife within the Metropolitan police.

The new Commissioner Mark Rowley has said he will be ‘ruthless in rooting out misogynists’ from the police. But the time for strong words is over. Womens trust in police is already incredibly low – and that trust has been even further eroded by a serious of high-profile failings. It is no surprise women are actively afraid of encountering the police, how are women able to have faith in the police to be the first line of protection when we know so many of them are displaying blatantly misogynistic behaviours?

There are hundreds of officers under investigation for abuse and harassment of women- the Casey report must, as Baroness Casey herself said, be a line in the sand moment. We desperately need widespread radical culture change and root and branch reform needs to start now, women’s lives depend on it.”

ENDS

About Refuge
Refuge supports thousands of women and children on any given day, and runs the National Domestic Abuse Helpline, which is the gateway to accessing specialist support across the country. More than one in four women in England and Wales experiences domestic abuse at some point in their lifetime, and two women a week are killed by a current or former partner.

Please signpost to Refuge’s National Domestic Abuse Helpline 0808 2000 247, available 24 hours a day 7 days a week for free, confidential specialist support. Or visit the National Domestic Abuse Helpline to fill in a webform and request a safe time to be contacted or to access live chat (live chat available 3pm-10pm, Monday to Friday). For support with tech abuse visit our dedicated tech abuse website.