The police have a problem with women. They resisted investigating gangs who sexually exploited girls. They failed to take seriously victims who reported the black cab rapist John Worboys. This dismissal gave criminals impunity to commit more crimes. “It is the whole system that has failed,” a victim of Worboys said after she’d had to bring a high court case to challenge his release.
A steep rise in crime and a drop in arrests have left the public with doubts about police competence. Rather than address internal failings, Sara Thornton, chairwoman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, told its conference last week that one way to improve performance would be to exclude misogynist abuse from the hate crimes law. Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan police commissioner,