It has taken the death of a white woman for the issue of trust in English policing to be addressed, a former chief constable has said.
Sue Fish, the ex-chief of Nottinghamshire Police, also said every woman she knows would have got into the car with the Metropolitan Police firearms officer who used his warrant card to kidnap Sarah Everard and then raped and murdered her.
British government ministers and Scotland Yard have been accused of having a tone-deaf response to violence against women and girls, after a string of suggestions over what action the British public should take if they fear an officer is not acting legitimately.
Ms Fish told BBC Breakfast: “I think pretty much every woman that I know, and certainly me, would have got into that car with Wayne Couzens.”
She said failing to do so means the offence of obstructing justice has been committed, as she warned there is a “real imbalance of power” in terms of a police officer versus a member of the public – particularly a woman on her own.
“But also we think about communities of colour, the black community in particular, and this has been a significant issue,” Ms Fish added.
“Trust (in police) in the black community has been poor to non-existent for many years, and yet it’s taken the death of a white woman to address, well, start to address, this issue, this very fundamental issue of trust in policing.”
