Head of UK's biggest police force says sorry for past treatment of LGBTQ+ community

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By DANICA KIRKA today

LONDON (AP) — The head of Britain’s biggest police department has apologized for the force’s past treatment of the LGBTQ+ community, a move that one human rights activist called a “groundbreaking” acknowledgement that would help build confidence in law enforcement.

The statement Wednesday from Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley came after gay rights activist Peter Tatchell launched a campaign calling for all British police departments to apologize for “past homophobic witch hunts,” which continued even after Britain decriminalized private sexual acts between men in 1967.

In a letter to Tatchell, Rowley acknowledged that the way in which police enforced the law “failed the community and persist(s) in the collective memory of LGBT+ Londoners of all ages.”

“Recent cases of appalling behavior by some officers have revealed that there are still racists, misogynists, homophobes and transphobes in the organization, and we have already doubled down on rooting out those who corrupt and abuse their position,” he said.




Read more: https://apnews.com/article/metropolitan-police-lgbtq-mark-rowley-480a8555f4d831d44d53c5058388678a

[cbabe]

1. The secret life of a Met detective: why Jess McDonald quit her job - and decided to tell all

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jun/07/the-secret-life-of-a-met-detective-why-jess-mcdonald-quit-her-job-and-decided-to-tell-all

Rape and sexual assault
The secret life of a Met detective: why Jess McDonald quit her job – and decided to tell all

She joined the police to make a difference. But McDonald’s work on rape and domestic violence cases left her with PTSD and the determination to speak out

Gaby Hinsliff
Wed 7 Jun 2023 07.00 EDT

Jess McDonald was still on probation as a trainee police detective when she encountered her first alleged rapist. Like much else she describes in her memoir, No Comment, the interview didn’t go at all as expected.

Like the vast majority of the rape cases she would work on later, it boiled down to a woman’s word against a man’s. Their stories broadly matched, except that he said the sex was consensual and she that it wasn’t. “I’ve read all the statements and I’m thinking: ‘OK, first of all, this is not clearcut.’ It kind of messes with your head a bit, because you just don’t know for certain,” says McDonald, a 36-year-old former tech salesperson who joined the Metropolitan police via an experimental direct-entry scheme that fast-tracked graduates into the criminal investigation department, allowing them to eschew years spent pounding the beat in uniform.

She asked the officer conducting the interview how a jury would decide who to believe. “And the detective, who was relatively senior, said: ‘Oh no, crap rape, it’s not going anywhere – don’t worry about it.’ And I was like: but how is it not going anywhere? It’s got to go somewhere.” How could conflicting accounts simply be deemed to cancel each other out, she wondered, without trying to establish the truth? With only 1.3% of police-recorded rapes in England and Wales leading to prosecution in 2020-21, many women’s worst nightmares must have been written off as “crap rapes”.

So far, so depressingly predictable, given recent policing scandals. McDonald’s book describes some deeply troubling incidents, including what she concludes was the racist arrest of a young black man for banging on his own front door; recruits being told to practise stop-and-search skills on homeless people who had seemingly done nothing wrong; and two shocking stories of predatory male police officers committing sexual offences on colleagues. One young woman was assaulted by a senior officer at a borough party, but didn’t tell for fear it would “only cause trouble”; another was spied on in the shower by a male officer who had recently been appointed to lead a sexual offences team. McDonald resigned after allegedly being bullied by two male officers.

…more…

(Maybe. We’re watching.)

[peppertree]

2. 'My Policeman'

Worth watching if you haven't seen it already.

The police brutality scenes from 1957 England are a good reminder of what Repugs would impose - if they could.

[Behind the Aegis]

3. Good!

About damn time!

[wolfie001]

4. Should have been done years ago but the next best time is......

Now!!!!

[electric_blue68]

5. That's a good way to say it. 👍

[wolfie001]

6. I hope the news....

....causes that psychopath Matt Walsh to lose sleep over it. Cheers