Announcing the new measures on Wednesday, the Met chief said: “What I can say today is we are launching our ‘safe connection’, as we call it, which allows a woman who is stopped by such a police officer immediately to have verification that this is a police officer. “My plain clothes officers will call into a control room, they will then have a video ...
Announcing the new measures on Wednesday, the Met chief said: “What I can say today is we are launching our ‘safe connection’, as we call it, which allows a woman who is stopped by such a police officer immediately to have verification that this is a police officer. “My plain clothes officers will call into a control room, they will then have a video call with a sergeant in uniform who will say ‘Yes, that’s so and so, he’s PC X, Y, Z’ – so a quick, easy way, which again is instigated by the officer, not by the woman having to ask for this...The Metropolitan Police said the video call will be made using the officer’s mobile phone but, in the event they do not have their device on them, such as when they are off duty, the officer will provide the woman with the telephone number to visually call the operations room directly.Anyone stopped by an officer can also call 999 directly to ask for verification of their identification and reassurance from the police control room if they prefer this route – or if video calling is not available. The enhanced verification check comes after firearms officer Couzens used his warrant card and handcuffs to kidnap Ms Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive, in a fake Covid arrest as she walked home from a friend’s house in south London before going on to rape and murder her. ... Sarah Everard, 33, was kidnapped and murdered by Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens as she walked home in south London in March 2021 (Family handout/Metropolitan Police)Plain clothes officers will now video call into a control room to confirm their identity when stopping a lone woman, the head of the Metropolitan Police has revealed.
