Clare Mackintosh, ex-detective and inspector, now best-selling crime novelist, says the way to fix the force is putting women in their 40s in charge.

Baroness Casey’s report that was published this week on the Met’s culture and standards created a lot of discussions around how to reform the force since the report identified some fundamental problems with the force such as racism, misogyny and homophobia.

The report also warned that the force could be harbouring ‘many more’ predators like serial rapist David Carrick and Wayne Couzens, who kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard.

Clare Mackintosh wrote a piece for The Daily Mail to offer her opinions on the matter as a woman, who worked for the police for 12 years as a detective and a public order inspector before becoming a best-selling crime novelist.

“I’ve worked with several officers later found to have committed harassment, fraud and sexual offences,” she says.

“So I’ve thought long and hard about whether I should have known they were offenders-in-waiting, but criminals are secretive by default.”

She states she is not giving up on her ex-colleagues just yet and adds: “Most officers I know feel betrayed by criminals such as Carrick and Couzens, and want to root out corruption just as we do. They also know they must urgently get their own house in order.”

Mackintosh continues: “The findings of Baroness Casey’s report are damning.

“They reveal a culture that encourages corrupt and bigoted officers, with systems set up to fail.

“Rapists have walked free because broken freezers meant evidence was lost; a lack of resources has created unacceptable delays in forensic testing.

“Female officers have reported crude sexual pranks from colleagues; a Sikh officer’s beard was cut ‘because it was funny’.”  

“We need women who assume equality as a right, not a bonus”

Although she points out that there is no quick fix for systemic rot, the answer for her starts with something simple: “The police service desperately needs to foster women within its ranks to regain trust.

“Specifically, it needs the right women; after all, the Met’s former female commissioner, Cressida Dick, was unable to address her force’s toxic culture.

“The right women are mostly (but not exclusively) in their 40s and younger.

“They are the women who came of age in today’s world; not the previous generation who spent decades having to behave like men in order to get on.

She continues by saying women are the key to rebuilding public confidence: “Studies show female officers are viewed as more trusted by their communities.

“They have good interpersonal skills and are better equipped emotionally to address violence against women, an area crying out for better policing.

“I find that women and minority groups are more likely to call out predatory behaviour within the police, often because, sadly, they are so frequently the victims of it.”

She points out: “An environment in which victims are afraid to speak encourage monsters to flourish.

“Women don’t have the luxury of ignoring misogyny, which is why handing them more power within the police is the way to put a stop to it; disrupting the ‘boys’ clubs’ identified in the Casey report.”

“Police forces need to reflect the communities they represent”

She continues: “In order to prevent prejudiced behaviour, we have to prioritise the most vulnerable groups in society.

“To do that, police forces need to reflect the communities they represent.

“Approximately 18 per cent of the UK population is made up of black, Asian, mixed or minority ethnic groups, yet our police service is still more than 90 per cent white.

“The gender divide is relatively equal in the lower ranks, but the split is stark higher up the chain of command; only 30 per cent of chief officers in England and Wales are female.

“Fixing these imbalances is a critical part of rebuilding trust, and it’s imperative we have robust vetting procedures at the recruitment stage.”

Clare Mackintosh remembers recruitment assessments when she joined the force in 1999, which were held over a weekend and included a night in the on-site bar: “A candidate who had passed the paper vetting process could still be sent home after an ill-judged joke or unwanted overture when they believed they were ‘off-duty’.

“Observation continued at training college, where Thursday discos were the highlight of the week — and the end of some careers.”

She criticises current recruitment process, which consists of online assessments: “How well do forces know these recruits when they are sent out on our streets?”

Retention is a constant struggle, according to Mackintosh, “when morale is low due to high workload, poor management and lack of support – elements identified in Baroness Casey’s report.”

She concludes: “I didn’t get an exit interview on leaving the police. 

“If I had, I would have said I didn’t really want to leave a career I loved, I was just exhausted by juggling three toddlers and a warrant card. 

“I’d like to think that female officers who reach this point now are shown a way to stay.

“Because they are the force’s best chance of bringing about genuine reform — and regaining women’s trust.”

(Source: The Daily Mail)