“It’s another futile, knee-jerk reaction by Boris.”
Former cops believe the idea of putting undercover police officers in bars and nightclubs is “stupid”.
The death of Sarah Everard understandably put women’s safety and protection under the spotlight. Alarmingly, 97% of women stated they have been victim of a sexual assault and an overwhelming number of women say they do not feel safe walking alone at night.
Following a meeting with the Government’s Crime and Justice taskforce, which was chaired by Boris Johnson, No. 10 said it would take “immediate steps” to improve security.
The PM confirmed the plans in a Tweet following a meeting with ministers, senior police officers and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
We're taking action to make our streets safer, with better lighting and CCTV, tougher sentences and increased police patrols.
We must drive out violence against women and girls and make every part of the criminal justice system work better to protect and defend them.
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) March 15, 2021
In order to try and prevent incidents such as Everard’s disappearance and death from reoccurring, police have discussed a range of measures.
One of these reportedly involves putting plain clothes police officers in bars and nightclubs when they reopen after lockdown.
67 percent of the British public think this is a good idea, according to a recent YouGov poll.
Britons support the proposal to put plain clothed police officers in bars and clubs as part of plans to protect women from predatory offenders
ALL BRITONS:
67% support / 23% opposeWOMEN:
73% support / 17% opposeMEN:
62% support / 30% opposehttps://t.co/W1Mgrx5YYB pic.twitter.com/Ub0UMiSzUE— YouGov (@YouGov) March 17, 2021
However, actual cops – former undercover ones to be precise – do not agree.
Neil Woods, who spent 13 years infiltrating drug gangs across Britain, told JOE in an email that the idea is “stupid and won’t solve anything”.
Former police officer Dave Manson agrees. Manson was regularly deployed in the nightclub industry as a plain clothes officer, and said “it’s another futile, knee-jerk reaction by Boris”.
He added: “It won’t work; it puts innocent people and the cops themselves at risk of being victims of violence if they are suspected of working undercover.”
The damage will be felt far beyond the doors of whichever pub or club officers infiltrate, Manson says.
“It will break down even further what little trust is left between police and the public, and it could damage the economy of pubs and other nighttime establishments, which has already been severely damaged due to Covid regulations.”
Another ex-undercover officer speaking under the pseudonym ‘Frank Matthews’ generally agrees, although he suspects the idea has been released to the media to win back public support for the police.
“If they are going to do it, they’ll do it on a low-key scale. To go through with this on a large scale is going to take so much manpower.
“Do they mean the Met or the whole country? Look how many bars there are around. The cost is extremely high, and the manpower just isn’t there.”
