Why Cressida Dick Resigns

POLITICS/POLICING

Who can change the thinking of men

Since the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving police officer, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police (London and terrorism), Cressida Dick has been under pressure.

Sarah Everard was tricked by Wayne Couzens who, in plain clothes, “arrested” her for breaching COVID laws, drove her to a woodland where he raped her, strangled her, and set her body alight.

The outrage was huge as we, mostly, trust the police.

Since then there have been many incidences of misogyny -come ons to victims of crime, and WhatsApp messages shared when two murder victims were found in a freezer.

The latest is the discovery of a culture of misogyny at Charing Cross Police Station. Women held in cells were humiliated in various degrees, and no one in the Force put a stop to it within the station.

Now Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, has said he has no trust in Dick so she has resigned but will remain until her successor is found.

Recently, Cressida Dick has apologised in a heartfelt way about certain incidents. She is one person with only one pair of eyes and ears. She has had to trust that police under her command behave appropriately. Should she have toured every London police station and conducted surveillance or done a time and motion study?

As the first woman to hold the post I think she is much to be admired. Some still blame her for the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes sixteen years ago. He was wrongly shot and Dick was in charge of the operation, but not present. She was found to be innocent of wrongdoing and I still don’t understand how that worked.

What Cressida Dick can be credited with is the increased recruitment of women and ethnic minorities to the police, as well as a boost in morale.

How can another person accomplish the eradication of misogyny and disrespect? Surely it starts at recruitment and the sacking of those found to practice it. That Sadiq Khan has voiced such criticism without appearing to have assisted in any way, seems unfair. Surely the Mayor of London works hand in hand with the Commissioner. Dick was due to leave in two years.

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