| Philosophie | On the day the Casey Review publishes its findings into the Met Police, finding that it is institutionally racist, sexist and homophobic, the Women’s Equality Party (WEP) launches its “See it. Say it. Ignore it.” campaign. The campaign, designed by Quiet Storm to support this work, satirises the famous “See it. Say it. Sorted” campaign, highlighting failures by police leaders and politicians to tackle violence and abuse in police ranks. Women’s Equality Party activists have put up posters (see attached photos) across the transport network to mark the findings of the Casey Review. The Women’s Equality Party is campaigning for a statutory inquiry into misogyny in all police forces and a complete overhaul of policing, led by the very people who the police are most failing: women, Black people and people of minoritized ethnicities and LGBTQ+ people. This new version of the well known slogan puts an emphasis on how the police - an establishment designed to protect and serve the public - is rife with misogyny which has been overlooked and ignored by the government, despite a wealth of evidence. Nearly 50 allegations of violence by Met officers and staff against women are being received each month, new figures have revealed as campaigners warned of the “staggering” extent of the problem infecting forces. The cases — many of which were generated internally by officers or staff raising concerns about a colleague — are on top of a further 287 allegations against Met employees made in an earlier six-month period from October 2021 to the end of March 2022. News reports show that police drop most complaints of officer violence against women, more than 1,500 UK police officers have been accused of violence against women in six months, half of women are ‘not confident’ that police will properly investigate sexual assault and domestic abuse claims and Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley himself has admitted that the force failed and let women down. The campaign cleverly mimics existing policing promotional material. Although the design may seem familiar, the images show police officers laughing as a woman is attacked by another officer in the background. The accompanying hashtag #SeeItSayItIgnoreIt encourages the public to share images of the posters and support the campaign against police misogyny and violence. The campaign breaks on March 21st, running across social media and in print. Fly posting around England and Wales will boost the presence of the campaign and reach people in the streets to spark conversation. |
