Another tragic story

Another case involving the police…

Whilst I believe that the vast majority of police officers are decent people, the nature of the job does attract some dodgy characters. I don’t know what the answer is. Perhaps more comprehensive psychiatric tests upon application? The guy accused of Sarah’s murder isn’t young and as far as we know so far, showed no signs of being unstable until a few days before the murder when he exposed himself. Maybe he has recent had a psychotic episode and has not had issues before? If that is the case there could be a number of other ticking time bombs in the force. It does make you wonder why the exposure episode didn’t ring alarm bells and maybe the police need to have regular assessment checks with their staff and act on any red flags immediately. I knew a couple of police officers years ago who used to use their position of authority to chat up women. Nothing illegal about that of course, but taking advantage of vulnerable people is never good.

The thing is, and this is the point I made above, it’s nothing to do with “the force”. It’s to do with the unstable nature of people’s psyche, and base instincts of humans (in this case men) in general.

I’m sorry, but as above, you cannot solve this. There will always be unstable people, and until you can predict future behaviour accurately on a day to day basis, there is no solution.

Also, not sure what you meant by it, but an officer using their position to chat-up women isn’t an issue, is it? And why do you class women as “vulnerable”?

There was a Dorset police officer who killed the woman he was having an affair with. He was sentenced last year. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/oct/28/dorset-police-officer-timothy-brehmer-jailed-for-10-years-claire-parry-manslaughter
There was also this one.

There was also this one.

We could then go on to the under cover cops who had relationships with women, had children then disappeared.

These guys too https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/dec/18/six-hampshire-police-officers-guilty-of-misconduct-over-offensive-comments

I work in an office with police officers. Mostly they are a nice bunch. However, there is one who is more problematic and would come under the ‘bantz’ umbrella. He is retiring in a matter of months.

Perhaps because in general they are physically weaker than men? (I don’t include myself in that assessment, btw. :expressionless:)

It may not be that. It’s probably more the power balance that doesn’t come under physical power.
I didn’t take he was saying women were vulnerable just that police shouldn’t take advantage of vulnerable people.

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Because some were the victims of crime, therefore vulnerable.

Don’t you think that certain people with “issues” would be drawn to jobs where they had a certain amount of power over others?

OK, so we’re not talking that they went to the pub and did it, you say they would use their position to get in with women that have been subject to issues like the one that got Sarah killed?

No idea tbh, but as you said it seems this bloke has never had issues like this until last week - so are you saying the police should have daily or weekly psychological assessments?

They are in a position to gain the trust of vulnerable people. Some of them abuse that trust.

I’m sure it does happen, people abuse their positions all over the place, but what you’re saying here is something that would command prison time, would it not? You said it’s not illegal, but using your position to take advantage of vulnerable people, when you are in a position of trust, is illegal.

Why would I say that, it is grossly impractical I am sure you know. More frequent checks are possible as would be encouraging team mates to come forward if they thought that another team mate was acting strangely. The officer who was grassed up for sending an inappropriate WhatsApp message the other day is an example.
I am not suggesting that this would have prevented Sarah’s death, I am just saying that passing an interview and getting a job should not be the end of it. The police do a very difficult job. Don’t you think that frequent psychiatric checks would be helpful (if they are being done already)?

Yeah, of course, but it would probably be annually and/or after traumatic events (which I would be surprised if there isn’t anyway).

The other issue is that these kind of things are usually carried out by people who can “fake” that they are fine - Ted Bundy for instance.

As said before, I don’t think we should confuse this issue - the rape and murder of a woman is still a rare occurrence statistically.

Perhaps we should use an example from a country that manages this kind of thing well?

I don’t disagree that it is possible to fake being ok. If there is a process that helps weed out those not suitable or those who were suitable but are now having issues, it must help though. If a process prevents just one murder it has to be worthwhile.

Big article in The Observer today about the amount of claims made about claims made from women about sexual abuse from Met officers over the years.

There is also this one. My neighbors friend is the woman who was attacked.

If community service is difficult for him perhaps he shouldn’t go around assaulting people? Bizarre.

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It’s supposed to be fucking difficult for him. What does he think it is, a reward for good behaviour?? :rage:FFS. :rage::rage: Like these twats who get done for drink driving, then have the gall to plead in court that their job will be affected. So what?

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There was another case where a food delivery driver sexually assaulted a woman. He did not get a custodial sentence as he was the main breadwinner in the home. Well that’s how the news reported it. Anyway he is now on the sex offenders reg. So not sure you would want him going around in the evenings dropping off your food to women. Social care may also do an assessment of whether he is a risk to his children. Also there are safety nets re benefits for his wife and maybe she doesn’t want to be with him now he has been found guilty.

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