The fact that the Met have admitted that over 1,000 officers are suspended or on restricted duties, many accused of violence against women, makes me concerned that the same could be going on in France.
There is already a concern about the level of police violence, but I wonder if the level of violence against women is being hidden, simply because, like in UK, women are not taken seriously when they complain or are too scared to do so.
Police forces are drawn from society and reflect it. So there will be a level of misogyny (racism, homophobia, …) in any police force.
The Met is extraordinarily bad, and not reflective of UK policing as a whole, let alone French.
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Are you sure?
I think that policing can attract a certain type of person who wants the power that a uniform and, here in France and other countries, a firearm.
Misogynistic, homophobic, racist and anything they see as being different from themselves.
Obviously this is not true of all police officers, but looking at the figures from the Met, I suspect that this is being replicated in police forces over Europe.
It obviously is in the USA too.
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I’m not complacent but I’d worry more about racism.
And that’s before the final report on what Special Branch officers got up whilst undercover in the 1990s comes out.
No-one can be sure. But I see no evidence to suggest that
I’ve always been of the view that wanting to be a firearms officer should disqualify one from becoming a firearms officer.
Likewise, those who want to be an MP!
It’s actually quite boring being a firearms officer, if your desire is to use a gun, given the very limited opportunities to use your training and the amount of post-use enquiry that (quite properly) happens.
Hah, yes, I do recall there was quite a fuss following someone’s end-of-shift unintended discharge into the sand bucket at a place I worked.
That someone wasnt fit to carry arms. Blatant disregard of safety protocol.
Our village bobby where I lived for some time in Germany wouldnt carry his duty weapon. He had a false pistol grip in the holster. The pistol was in its box in the safe. I never did find out why.
Indeed, though fortunately foreseen by the protocol of the sand bucket. I’m sure there’s a technical name for it but I don’t know it.
It seems being an adrenalin junkie can be hard work - I had a friend who was recruited from university for MI6, potentially exciting stuff, but who then spent her first months in a windowless room just translating Chinese conversations in bugged Soho restos (her BA was in Chinese), Understandably, she got totally bored, so after a few months applied to become a diplomatic protection driver, received lots of defensive driving training and then spent her days just ferrying people from Heathrow into Central London. But still nothing exciting happened, so she became a driver for a W German (1980s) sports car racing team… Could go on, but think you get the picture…
And then after that she settled down and had children?
While police are indeed drawn from society they are drawn from the 80 - 85% who do not have a criminal record. That fact, vetting and other procedures shouldensure that criminality levels do not reflect society. The very nature of their work means they are better placed to avoid detection which is scary looking at a statistic of 1000 officersin a single force under suspension or restrictions. Full disclosure, I’m not a fan.
I know quite a few UK police officers of various flavours and it’s notable just how many came to a fork in the road during their lives, with one route being the police and the other a life of crime.
Some seem to pursue both paths simultaneously.
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It is not just criminality, it is their attitude to the rest of society, women especially.
The macho culture that appears to be prevalent, especially in some of these special groups, shoukd not be there.
Women make up 50% of society and should be given their due respect, not targets for sexual crimes.
That’s very surprising (and doesn’t reflect my experience at all).
Most criminals start at an early age (certainly well before they could apply to join the police) and are therefore on the radar before any conviction.
Hopefully they are not committing rape in their teens.
However, news out today shows just how many very young people have been victims of blackmail via their 'phones.
Nude 'photos being posted to all of their fellow pupils.
For the life of me I can’t understand why young people are allowing themselves to be photographed nude when they must know what is going on with this type of blackmail.
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