Men are being told they must change their behaviour in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard, as Boris Johnson tells people they “should trust the police”.
The prime minister says women should seek help if they are suspicious about the way a police officer treats them, but adds he wants the public to have confidence in the UK’s police forces.
However Scottish Justice Secretary Keith Brown says it is up to men to change their behaviour to help stamp out misogyny and violence against women and girls.
This comes as Police Scotland introduces a new verification check for lone police officers in a bid to reassure the Scottish public after former police officer Wayne Couzens abducted and killed Sarah Everard.
‘They are overwhelmingly trustworthy’
Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “I think people should trust the police.
“It is very, very important that people have confidence in our police up and down the country.
“Thousands of police men and women are utterly sickened by the murder of Sarah Everard and the way it happened.
“If you are suspicious about the way you are being treated and are worried for some reason then clearly you should seek help but in my view the police do an overwhelmingly good job and I want the public to trust the police.
“They are overwhelmingly trustworthy.”
However Mr Johnson added the UK Government needs to look at the whole criminal justice system and work to make sure complaints about rape, domestic violence, sexual violence and harassment are handled properly to increase people’s trust in the police.
He added: “We are going to make sure we get to the bottom of what happened but what I am telling you today, this government takes what happened extremely seriously and we will stop at nothing to get more rapists behind bars and more successful prosecutions for rape and sexual violence.”
All generations must change their attitude
The prime minister’s comments come as Scottish Justice Secretary Keith Brown says men need to change their behaviour and tackle ‘locker room’ misogyny.
Speaking on The Sunday Show he said: “This is about men’s behaviour and men having to change their behaviour.
“All generations have to understand and change their attitude towards low-level misogyny and take a look at the ‘locker room’ aspect of that.
“If we are to change this, we are to change out behaviour.”
These comments are appalling. It’s not up to women to fix this. It’s not us who need to change. The problem is male violence, not women’s ‘failure’ to find ever more inventive ways to protect ourselves against it. For change to happen, this needs to be accepted by everyone. https://t.co/8oC2c5U9Pj
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) October 1, 2021
He added Police Scotland has “responded quickly” to people’s concerns about lone police officers, and says more needs to be done to tackle what has been dubbed a “canteen culture” of homophobia, racism and misogyny within Police Scotland.
Mr Brown added: “Many women feel the justice system doesn’t serve them,
“The trust in police has been undermined.
“We need to address homophobia, racism and misogyny within the police force and police officers need to feel enabled to report this because they think action will be taken.
“That is not happening sufficiently.
“The vast majority of people have high trust levels in the police who do a fantastic job in trying circumstances but work is being done and there is a commitment to look at trust and confidence in the police.”
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