THE LABOUR candidate for Essex Police and Crime Commissioner has condemned police tactics at Clapham Common on Saturday evening.
Several hundred people gathered on Clapham Common on Saturday evening to pay tribute to 33-year-old Sarah Everard – whose death has prompted a public debate over women’s safety – despite Covid restrictions.
Chris Vince said: “The scenes witnessed at Clapham Common on Saturday evening, are profoundly disturbing. Policing should not look like heavy handed tactics, when a peaceful and entirely understandable vigil is taking place to highlight the issues of misogyny, sexism, and violence against women in society.
It’s quite staggering, given the utterly appalling circumstances that led up to the vigil, that someone, somewhere, took the operational decision, to not only police the event in such numbers, and in such a manner, but also that so many officers on duty in Clapham, should be male.
Both the Metropolitan unit, who where policing the event, and forces throughout the country, must seriously reflect whether acting in the way that they did on Saturday evening, is really in the best interests of a society in which all too often, women in particular, simply do not feel safe.
Whilst I fully recognise that the majority of Essex officers, will be as disturbed as I was by the scenes at Clapham, and that they acknowledge the importance of the ‘reclaim the streets campaign’, we cannot allow the behaviour of some officers that night, to be brushed aside, explained away, and ultimately ignored and forgotten about. Nor is it sufficient for Essex Home Secretary Priti Patel, to simply demand a report from Cressida Dick, the head of the Metropolitan Police. Serious and searching questions to be answered, in public, and to the public.
Who had operational command?
Who ultimately decided upon police tactics?
What efforts where made ahead of the vigil, to try and ensure we didn’t witness such atrocious scenes?
And perhaps, most importantly of all, what consideration was given to the message that such police behaviour would send to women throughout the country?
Do we want to continue to live in a country, where women have to look over their shoulder when walking home, or where they’re forced to cross the road out of fear, or to pretend to make a telephone call, when approached by a man?
Whilst it’s all too easy to lay the blame for sexism and misogyny at the door of those such as Donald Trump, and closer to home, our own Prime Minister, who have in the past resorted to stereotypical male language all too readily, it’s myself I really want to admonish.
How often have I turned a deaf ear to an inappropriate remark, ignored my own misgivings about another man’s behaviour, or let a female colleague be talked over or berated by a man? The answer is that if I have done it once, then that’s once too often.
To my dear colleague Frances Mason, whom sadly passed away before Christmas, I’ll never have the opportunity to make up for that omission. To the person who berated her, shame on you, but shame on me for not saying anything at the time.
If the shocking killing of Sarah Everard, is to be more than simply yet another example of brutal male violence, then let it mean the start of change. Where men, including this one, call out behaviour that isn’t ok. Where police take more seriously, complaints and instances of male misogyny suffered by women, and where such crime is called out for what it is, hate crime.
Finally, let me be so humble as to offer some advice to police forces everywhere. If any further vigils take place, stand with the women, if only for a minute. Silently. Show some contrition, to demonstrate a modicum of atonement, for one of your own being charged with such a heinous crime.
Let the awful events in Clapham be a line in the sand. No more. Not in my name.
Chris Vince
PFCC candidate for Essex
If you look back over the past 9 months on YouTube, you will see the police have been a lot more aggressive, the TSG especially are the swat teams, how long has it been since boxing mitts are part of their armoury.
Freedom marches have seen many more arrests and shows of aggression of ten on the vulnerable but because no front line press have been involved nothing is said, in fact the ‘free’ press have been arrested time and again for not holding a government press card and not treated very humanely, check out Subject Access,, Tyrant Finder and Resistance GB for proof.