The series of reports about misogynistic behavior in the British police does not stop.

On Wednesday, a new investigative report criticized inadequate security checks and leadership failures at all levels.

"In summary, a culture of misogyny, sexism and lewd behavior towards police officers and women in public was pervasive in all of the units we surveyed, which is a depressing finding," said report leader, Police Inspector Matt Parr , presenting the paper in London and continued: "We believe the bad behavior towards women that has been reported to us is common in many, if not all, units."

Jochen Buchsteiner

Political correspondent in London.

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The report was commissioned after police officer Wayne Couzens was convicted of allegedly arresting Londoner Sarah Everard in March 2021 and then raping and murdering her.

The commission investigated eight police units, including two in which Couzens, who has since been sentenced to life imprisonment, worked.

Couzens was summoned to appear in court on Wednesday for sexual harassment that took place before the murder.

Two of his colleagues, who had already been found guilty in the summer, were each sentenced to twelve weeks in prison because, among other things, they joked with other chat participants about the rape of colleagues and wrote about electric shocks against children and the disabled.

The mistakes started with the recruitment

Parr complained that many police officers should not have been hired.

In 18 percent of the 700 cases examined, the hiring decision was “questionable at best”.

Police officers who had a criminal record or were at least suspected of having committed criminal offences, some of which were serious, were taken into service.

Others were heavily in debt or had relatives involved in organized crime.

In several cases, police officers and employees have given false or incomplete information during internal security checks.

“We have discovered police officers who have been successfully transferred between units despite a history of abuse of office allegations.

That is highly unsatisfactory.”


The report highlights that senior police officers have also urged women to have sex, watched pornography on duty, or made sexist statements about victims of violence.

Superiors had been informed about the misconduct of subordinates for years, but had turned a blind eye and failed to recognize the dangers for the public.

"The more sloppy the internal security clearance process, the greater the chance that someone like Couzens will be hired," said Police Inspector Matt Parr.


As recently as October, a report concluded that the police's internal disciplining system had more failures and cover-ups than previously thought.

Scotland Yard's new boss, Mark Rowley, later apologized publicly and suspected that hundreds of racist, misogynistic and corrupt police officers were still on duty.