THE MET POLICE ARE TELLING WOMEN TO RUN... FROM THE POLICE.
Oh boy, what a treat it is to get all these handy tips and tricks from the Met Police about what women should do if they feel like they're in danger. If they’ve been stopped, searched, harassed or arrested by a police officer.
We’ve all heard about the horrifying details of what happened to Sarah Everard and my heart goes out hugely to her friends, her family, her loved ones, anybody who knew her and anybody who has been affected by the news because it's overwhelming and it is terrifying. So don't feel guilty if you’ve switched off from it and maybe stop reading here. With everything going on, I thought I would share a few of the ways that police officers and the Met police have come forward to say women can use these tips to feel a little bit safer. I want to pick them apart because the maths ain't mathing for me.
Number one, they have suggested that (if you’re in this position of being stopped by the police) you take a step back and ask for the warrant card of the police officer and with that number that they’ve supplied you can call 999 and just double check that they actually are a legitimate police officer and the person on the other end of the phone can tell you or not now of course in this situation, they would have been told ‘yeah, that’s a police officer’ all legit.
Next, we were told that you can actually wave a bus down. Yeah, so just imagine you are on a busy road, and I don't know about you but buses, where I live, they don't stop if you’re not at a bus stop, they don’t stop. But, just imagine in this situation they do, they stop for you and I just don't really know then what you do? Does the police officer just let you on? let you go ahead take the bus?
Yeah, and lastly we've heard if all else fails then to just run, run away. Yeah, so we’re talking about a woman here, a woman who you know physical fitness we don't know. She could be wearing high heels, could be disabled, she might not know the area and she now has to out run a police officer who let's assume is male, let's assume is quite physically fit because of their job. Let's go ahead and assume they know the area. They will out run you, they will catch up with you and then in that moment you’re just told to say well look I ran away because I was scared. I didn’t know what was happening. I felt unsafe. The police officer in this role play that they’ve suggested to us is that they will turn around say ‘yeah I understand, that's absolutely fine’
I am kind of shocked and disgusted that these are the headlines we’re hearing in the days following this court case where we found out all of the minute details of what went on. I mean, the one thing that jumps out to me, is that no Woman of Colour, I think has ever considered running away and that that's going to be the best option. I also just feel like now they’re acting like this is the only situation, in the exact way that this played out they’re basically accounting for if that happened again on the same kind of road in the same way that was one police officer in the same way and they’re saying if this thing happened, here’s what you should do as if there's not a multitude of different situations and scenarios where the police can you use their power and control and their knowledge to put you in a scary situation. It's not always going to be like it was then. Does that make sense? It’s not always going to happen in exactly the same way and these options that you put in front of us. don’t seem to account for the fact that he was a police officer.
What are you telling your employees? What's your message to them to make sure this never happens again? I also wanted add that a former senior detective has come forward and says we don't see the murderer as one of us. We don't view him as a police officer and I understand the sentiment but it’s so problematic because of course in that moment Sarah did see him as one of them because he is and was one of them. He's not a former police officer in that moment. He was a police officer. Now, at the same time of course we’ve seen loads of tips about safety, safety about what apps you can download you know if you want your mates can track you and see when you're home and you can take a picture of the number plate of a taxi you’re getting into, and some people leave a hair behind. They might ring someone for the duration of the walk they might make sure to take the same route every day, so they know it really well, it’s a well lit area and of course, the clothes they are wearing are ‘suitable’ and they’ve left at a reasonable hour, but also we’re talking about a country where soon when the clocks change its going to get dark at 4 p.m.
We’re talking about people who maybe work jobs that finish late and now the night tubes not on and it's really hard to get a taxi and even if you do get a taxi, that’s not always a guaranteed way to feel safe. We’re talking about all these things that women have been doing for years, carrying keys in their fists
ordering a pepper spray online having a mini taser, just in case. When you close the door behind you, shouting up to say ‘bye Dad’, to make it look like someones still home, all of these things women have had these conversations for their whole life, what I don't see is men having conversations around women safety.
I want to see men having conversations with their friends - those jokes you make that aren't funny, making rape culture just seem so casual talking about controlling women, wolf whistling whatever it is, intimidating them. Please talk to your friends. Talk to your dad. Talk to your colleagues talk to your son's. What are men doing because women are terrified. What are the Met police going to do?
And it's so tempting like normally I would just say ‘OK women just, I know I shouldn’t have to say it but be safe just look after each other.’ We already do, we already do. So in this instance all I can say is ‘women, don't feel like you have to consume all the news on it, every single story on it because it's overwhelming’, but please let's stop making women’s safety just a focus for women if you're a man, just make it a priority please say something.
Yeah, it’s rubbish.
