Mark Rowley might say the right things in public, but he’s complicit in protecting a ‘locker room’ culture in our institutions, writes Catherine Deveney.
No doubt there are some who find Metropolitan Police commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, convincingly abject in his apologies over one of the most prolific rapists in recent history turning out to be not just an ordinary scumbag, but an actual elite Met officer scumbag.
Forgive my cynicism in holding Met contrition over the David Carrick case up to the light for further examination like a frustrated Miss Marple, but let’s examine the evidence.
June 2021: Following a fierce public backlash over the murder of Sarah Everard, Met officer, Wayne Couzens, is arrested for the crime. July 2021: While publicly apologising for Couzens, the Met is privately ignoring complaints about Carrick for the eighth time.
How should this timeline be interpreted? Should we conclude that all the PC Plods in the Met are too thick to notice that Carrick – who had complaints against him that included rape, assault and domestic violence, and who has now pleaded guilty to 49 counts of sexual offences against 12 women over 17 years, including 24 counts of rape and three of false imprisonment – was dodgy? That they thought his nickname, “Bastard Dave”, was ironic, and that the man who locked women in cupboards and urinated on them, was really a decent bloke?
Or, should we conclude that, even while profuse promises about women’s safety were being made, said plods couldn’t care less about whinging women’s complaints, and turned a blind eye yet again to protect one of their boys?
Mark, mate, no joke – we’ve heard it all before
A few years ago, a high profile rape case divided Ireland and illustrated the power of “locker room culture” – a culture in which men talk about women in ways that they wouldn’t in mixed company.
A young woman, who claimed she had been raped by an Irish rugby player, was comforted and taken home by one of his “gentleman” friends, who sent a text the next morning saying: “Keep your chin up you wonderful young woman.”
Except, when the group’s WhatsApp messages were exposed in court, along with the alleged victim’s bloodied thong, it turned out the “gentleman” was also writing to his friend saying: “Mate, no joke, she was in hysterics. Wasn’t going to end well.” To calm her down, he explained, he “threw her home and then went back to mine.”
With locker room culture, it’s the betrayal and complicity of the “good” guys that stings most for women.
The accused walked, of course, which, on the balance of probabilities, is the usual outcome in rape cases. There is a particular humiliation involved in having the wool pulled over your eyes, and later discovering that nothing said was sincere.
I have that feeling right now, as I write. Mark Rowley was only appointed in September, so, in all fairness, has not yet had time to prove himself, but no wonder his comments have prompted angry cynicism from women. Mate, no joke – we’ve heard it all before.
Give us a timetable
“All I can say,” said Rowley, “is: I’m sorry.” Actually, no. You need to say a lot more than that. More than platitudes like: “We have let you down” and: “I’m going to put in place ruthless systems to squeeze out those who shouldn’t be with us”.
Give us specifics because, Sir, we’re done with the gentlemanly vague promises. WHAT “ruthless systems” will you employ? Give us a timetable. Include a date when you will report back publicly about how many officers have been weeded out and why.
Outraged comments have abounded about the Carrick case being ‘unbelievable’. I have no difficulty believing it. Neither do most women
Oh, and a tip: maybe employ a more rigorous evaluation system than the one that, despite repeated vetting, allowed Carrick to be an elite officer in the parliamentary and diplomatic service. (Pension included.)
Outraged comments have abounded about the Carrick case being “unbelievable”. I have no difficulty believing it. Neither do most women.
Women know the establishment power games
Sue Fish, ex-chief constable of Nottinghamshire, and herself a victim of police sexual harassment, says there is “something fundamentally wrong in the institution”, while Vera Baird, ex-victims’ commissioner, demands to know what exactly has changed since the Everard case.
Fish is right. There is something wrong with most institutions, including that other British boys’ club, the army. This week, we heard that, out of 393 female army personnel who accused colleagues of raping them, 133 were diagnosed with personality disorder. Well, what would the colonel rather believe: that there are hundreds of abusive men in the army – or that Mrs Rochester is screaming loudly in the attic?
Repeatedly. It was as though they didn’t see let alone join any of the dots https://t.co/LFuE3KzaUF
— Susannah Fish (@SusannahFish) January 16, 2023
Women know the establishment power games. The ones that circumvent legislation and reduce our institutions to locker rooms. The truth is that, had David Carrick been accused of terrorist links, or drug dealing, or cooking the police’s finances, they’d have weeded him out. Offences against women? Be more careful, son.
Sir Mark Rowley needs to get a grip. But so do all those uniformed men who consider themselves “decent” while closing their eyes and their ears in the locker room.
Catherine Deveney is an award-winning investigative journalist, novelist and television presenter, and Scottish Newspaper Columnist of the Year 2022
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