Rotten apples or rotten barrel? - Why police forces are magnets for the wrong kind of men
Rotten apples or rotten barrel? - Why police forces are magnets for the wrong kind of men
Why are police forces a magnet for men who want to rape women? And what should we do about it?
Sadly, misogynistic sex crimes by members of the police are not a rarity. At the end of 2021, it was reported by the BBC that at least 750 allegations of sexual misconduct had been made against serving police officers in England and Wales during the previous five-year period. The largest police force, the Metropolitan police force, recorded 530 allegations of sexual offences by serving officers between 2016-2020 and between 2019 and 2022 there were 104 Met employees convicted of offences. This week, the head of the Met said the Met were reviewing 1633 cases of alleged sexual offences or domestic violence involving over 1000 staff over the last decade.
Potentially unpopular opinion here, but isn't 750 in five years across two countries fairly small? It's around 16 cases per year per country. Also note these are allegations.
I think it's incredibly unfair to say that police forces are magnets for male rapists (without going into the fact the statistics are about sexual misconduct and not rape). The overwhelming majority of male police officers are good people, trying to help and make a living. This kind of commentary is disrespectful and damaging to men.
I shouldn't have to mention that I do not support sexual violence against any person, but I'm saying it anyway for clarity.
Potentially unpopular opinion here, but isn’t 750 in five years across two countries fairly small? It’s around 16 cases per year per country.
It's 75 a year per country. A bit under 1.5 cases a week.
I have no way of assessing this against other professions but there are 150k police officers and 600k teachers - if there were 300 allegations a year against teachers in England, I'd imagine there'd be uproar.
Whoops, my math was off there. You're right.
Funny you should mention teachers but a very recent report says that a quarter of teachers have had allegations made against them, and 10% have been subjected to a formal disciplinary process during their career. Source: https://www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/teacher-allegations-parents-pupils
There's no uproar because the majority of allegations are just that. Allegations. While I have no doubt there are bad people in all walks of life, I do not believe most allegations hold weight. In both policing and teaching there is a power balance that works to and against each party's advantage. Making allegations against a person in a position of power is a strong weapon (though, yes, on the flip side, taking advantage of being in a position of power is also something people can do).