News / avon and somerset police
Chief constable responds to ‘shocking’ Channel 4 documentary
The chief constable of Avon and Somerset Police has insisted that things have changed since the shocking events seen in the recent To Catch A Copper TV documentary.
The Channel 4 series — the third and final episode of which aired on Monday night — took a look into the force’s own real-life AC-12 investigating misconduct by officers.
But many viewers have been concerned by how little repercussions officers seemed to face.
is needed now More than ever
The documentary has also prompted the CEO of a rape and sexual abuse charity to call for specialist training for all front-line staff in police forces, saying the team at SARSAS are “deeply shocked but not surprised” by some of the footage included in the final episode.
Meanwhile, many serving officers have felt “let down” by the documentary, which has been criticised by the Avon and Somerset Police Federation. In an anonymous comment, one officer said: “I feel disappointed that the force has put me in the position of having to defend myself as a good police officer.”
At Police and Crime Commissioner Mark Shelford’s regular performance and accountability board on Tuesday, he said some of the officers’ behaviour shown in the documentary had been “truly appalling” and “absolutely disgusting.”
Chief Constable Sarah Crew told him: “It’s important to recognise that most of our officers and staff provide excellent service to the public and they really want to see poor standards and behaviour tackled.”
She said: “Policing is a difficult and challenging job and we saw a bit of that in the documentary. And people in policing are human and they make mistakes, and honest mistakes with good intent in Avon and Somerset will always be dealt with as such. And mistakes for which we often apologise but from which we learn both as individuals and the organisation.”
But she added: “Where the intent is bad, its criminal, its in breach of our standards of professional behaviour, or indeed where it offends our values then be assured misconduct processes will follow and where misconduct is serious, my default position as chief constable is that there is no place in Avon and Somerset for those people.”
Claire Bloor, the CEO of SARSAS, said that while the documentary has started “important conversations around police conduct, accountability, and the systemic changes needed”, she is concerned for both the survivors whose experiences were highlighted and for those who will be reminded of their own experiences of sexual violence.
“Unfortunately, we know that the distressing stories of police misconduct such as those featured in To Catch a Copper will not be limited to the Avon and Somerset area,” said Bloor.
“As high-profile cases involving police officers like those of Wayne Cousins and David Carrick and subsequent reports, such as The Baroness Casey review have shown, vetting processes and misconduct procedures within the police nationally are woefully inadequate.
“While we are deeply shocked by some of the footage included in this final episode, we are not surprised. Many of the people we support speak to of us of negative experiences with the police or, on the most part, they tell us of the many reasons why they do not feel they can come forward to report crimes of sexual violence for fear of not being believed or taken seriously.”
John Wimperis is a local democracy reporter for Bristol
Main photo: Avon & Somerset Police
Read next:
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
