Within the vast neoclassical headquarters of the Metropolitan police in central London, the floor hosting the directorate of professional standards is the one place any visitor would try to behave.
Its 320 staff are tasked with investigating complaints of inappropriate behaviour, corruption and misconduct among officers. Yet even here, until recently at least, misogynists appear to have felt untouchable.
Ex-Met detective superintendent Shabnam Chaudhri recalls visiting the directorate five years ago to raise concerns over the inappropriate behaviour of a male officer only to find staff from the unit trumping her allegations with their own accounts of the same perpetrator.
“There were two female officers at the directorate who described him as vile. They said: ‘He used to come in here and openly brag about his sex life,’” she said.
Chaudhri asked the women why they taken no action against the man? “Their response was that they didn’t want to rock the boat. He was a senior officer and it would just make life difficult for them. I think that’s quite a prevalent concern across the organisation.”
It is precisely that culture – the allegation that officers are able to get away with inappropriate behaviour – that now finds itself under ferocious scrutiny following the lurid details that emerged last week into how a Met officer, Wayne Couzens, abused his power and police badge to kidnap, rape and murder Sarah Everard, 33.
The force, and some government ministers, had tried to suggest that Couzens was a lone rotten apple. That line became harder to maintain during his sentencing when the judge revealed officers had “spoken supportively” of the killer.
Compounding the outrage were subsequent revelations that Couzens exchanged misogynistic, racist and homophobic material with five other officers, three from the Met, in a WhatsApp group.
Although the Met has since unveiled an action plan to try to restore trust, many have lamented that the debate has once again focused on changing women’s behaviour rather than that of the perpetrators.
But with widespread revulsion showing little sign of abating, consensus is building that Everard’s murder might provoke a watershed moment for Britain’s biggest force, comparable to the shockwaves that convulsed British policing following the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993.
The killing of the black teenager led to 1999’s Macpherson report which called the Met “institutionally racist,” triggering introspection and an appetite for change.
More than two decades later, many say it is sexism that stains Scotland Yard.
Susannah Fish, a former chief constable of Nottinghamshire police who suffered sexual assaults from colleagues, has no hesitation describing policing as “institutionally misogynistic”.
She argues the Met deserves to face another Macpherson moment. “We need a public inquiry, on a similar scale to Stephen Lawrence. The home secretary needs to prioritise violence against women and girls as a national threat.”
It is a view supported by female former Met recruits. One officer, who left in 2019 but who asked not to be identified, said: “If you’re going to categorise sexist banter as sexism, then from my experience the Met has a big problem. To get to the truth any inquiry would need to guarantee women that they could speak freely and safely.”
Chaudhri, who joined the service four years before Lawrence was stabbed to death, says she can already predict the outcome of a future inquiry.
“I wouldn’t be surprised that, after an independent review of the female officers and police staff across the organisation, the force gets a further label of institutional sexism.”
Others argue the Met has already sufficiently changed. Ken Marsh, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, which represents more than 30,000 officers, also joined the force in 1989. He describes the culture he initially encountered as one that required transformation, but feels the ensuing decades have eradicated regressive behaviour.
“Are we sexist, misogynist, and all the rubbish that’s now coming out? No, we’re not in 2021. Were we? Yes when I joined. As an organisation we’re now far better than most you would find.”
Others are sceptical about claims of progress. Former Met chief superintendent Parm Sandhu, who like Marsh and Chaudhri has served more than 30 years in the force, is among those who encountered a “very sexist and misogynistic” culture and believes commissioner Cressida Dick should resign.
There is no sign, however, that a new face will emerge to guide the Met through one of the most tumultuous chapters in its 192-year history.
The two people who control her destiny – London mayor Sadiq Khan and home secretary Priti Patel – continue to support the commissioner, ignoring critics who claim Dick has failed to make the force more progressive at a time policing has never been under more scrutiny.
Marsh claims that having an openly gay woman in charge of the Met is itself progress.
“She has done nothing wrong. Plus, she’s championed women and gay females coming into policing,” he said.
Yet Chaudhri maintains that women officers remain afraid to speak out.
“There are many female officers who are scared and reluctant to take that course of action because they feel that it will tarnish their career. And I understand why they don’t necessarily do it,” she said.
After she spoke out against a male officer who made female colleagues “uncomfortable”, Chaudhri received a number of anonymous complaints including how she wore nail polish which was “not part of the uniform dress code”.
The 55-year-old believes that if the government is serious about challenging misogyny then its recently unveiled strategy to tackle violence against women and girls needs to be reframed. “One of the key factors is now how to elevate it, giving it the same importance as something like counter-terrorism.”
Fish agrees, adding: “She [Patel] should put it on the national threat register at the same level as terrorism – and then provide resources accordingly.”
In the meantime the fight against misogyny resembles a war of attrition.
Even after Everard’s murder in March, Chaudhri received disquieting messages from serving Met officers, one relating to a woman working custody suite night shifts who has to “put up with all sorts of inappropriate behaviour by the sergeant”.
Elsewhere, the work of the directorate of professional standards continues. One of its most recent cases, concluded last month, found two former Met officers had sent “a series of misogynistic text messages” containing “derogatory comments about women” to colleagues.
Whatever the eventual fallout of Everard’s horrific death at the hands of an officer, no one – not least inside the directorate – expects such cases to cease any time soon.
