Ex-Metropolitan Police Chief Superintendent Parm Sandhu this week said female officers often don't report the suspicious and inappropriate behaviour of their male colleagues because of fears they'll get "kicked in the street" by men who have "closed ranks".
After serving in the Met for 30 years, Ms Sandhu has called for commissioner Cressida Dick to resign, saying she "cannot move with the times".
Here, she sets out what exactly the Metropolitan Police needs to do to rebuild trust with the public in the wake of Wayne Couzen's vile kidnapping, rape and murder of Sarah Everard.
My thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Sarah Everard. For the sake of society and all those officers who are dedicated to making people safe, the police must learn and immediately change from this awful event.
The police must take immediate action to regain trust. It won’t happen quickly, and the journey will be extremely challenging. The issues are many and could be considered in terms of culture, priority and rigour. These elements need to be addressed at speed and underpinned by radical and systematic change.
Police must effectively lead in dealing with violence against women in the community to be seen as understanding how serious the breakdown in trust among women is, and how insidious this is to society.
The judge in Wayne Couzens' sentencing highlighted the abuse of the position of power this monster used to carry out his awful crime against Sarah Everard, and the failure of the police to identify and manage the risk within their own ranks.
In sentencing, the impact of the crime on public trust was highlighted to be so serious as to lead to a whole life sentence based on the political nature of the crime. Failure to deal with this urgently will compound this impact and lead to further erosion of trust and confidence.
There are things police can do quickly. Starting with culture, they can put their house in order. Taking immediate action to set the standards that are expected, act against those who fail to meet them and hold women with respect.
This means addressing inappropriate language and taking steps to ensure women are treated fairly alongside men.
Changing culture so that nicknames like ‘The Rapist’ or allegations of indecent exposure - both of which should have raised red flags for Couzens - lead to a thorough investigation. It means police forces should regularly vet and check their staff, and check the behaviour of officers to ensure behaviours match the values expected.
The priority to deal with these issues needs to be enhanced. There needs to be a senior officer with a reputation for investigating and addressing serious crime tasked to lead the response to violence against women and girls. This person needs to be sufficiently senior in rank to make a difference, address these crimes and challenge internal behaviour.
Enhancing the investigation of such crimes to become the pinnacle of police action addressing the approach they are a demand which needs to be managed.
The rigour is brought in by greater public involvement in the response, advising police, ensuring they understand the problem and holding them to account for change. Only through a more open and accessible police service will the public be convinced that action is being taken to deal with the issues.
Over time, fast action and wider engagement with the public to understand and resolve the problem will lead to improved performance, and through this enhanced trust and confidence.
Anything less will be empty words and platitudes which will fail to address the concerns of women and the whole of society.
