British police crack down on ‘catcalling’ as actual crimes go ignored
Female British police officers are posing as joggers to catch men who “catcall” after them.
“These behaviours may not be criminal offences in themselves, but they need to be addressed,” a Surrey Police spokesman said. Surrey has sent out patrols of policewomen in tight civilian clothes to jog past men. Other officers were stationed nearby, waiting to intervene in the event of a hoot or whistle.
The news outlet LBC reported that the sting operations have been successful. In one instance, two plainclothes police joggers elicited a honk and gesture from a truck driver.
“One of our officers was honked at within ten minutes — then another vehicle slowed down, beeping and making gestures just 30 seconds later - that's how frequent it is,” said Inspector John Vale. “Someone slowing down, staring, shouting - even if it's not always criminal - it can have a huge impact on people's everyday lives and stops women from doing something as simple as going for a run. We have to ask: is that person going to escalate? Are they a sexual offender? We want to manage that risk early.”
Vale added a warning: “The next time you see a female jogger, just think, they could be a police officer with colleagues nearby ready to stop you. Your behaviour is not welcome in Surrey.”
Police ask women to report men for staring
British police have long been arresting men for non-criminal acts like catcalling, or even staring. In 2023, the British Transport Police (BTP) urged women who take public transportation to “lower their tolerance” for sexual harassment and report “unacceptable behaviour such as leering, catcalling, touching, pressing, upskirting or indecent exposure.”
BTP Detective Chief Superintendent Paul Furnell promised that police “will always believe” women who report men for such conduct.
“I would urge everyone to download the Railway Guardian app and let us know if you witness or experience this sort of offending. We will always believe you and take you seriously,” he said.
Furnell also made it clear that police are targeting men and urged women not to change their behavior.
“I absolutely say women should not be changing their behaviours, not in any way,” Furnell said. “It is about tackling the behaviour of men and boys and the source of behaviour that is causing harassment, alarm and stress.”
“[F]or us, no incident is too small and if there is an element of harassment we want to know about it – it might be that the same guy has been targeting women again and again, we won't know unless we have help building that intelligence,” he added.
“Looking” or “staring” is one of the most common sexual “offenses” in the UK, according to government data. In a 2020 study, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that the “three most commonly experienced sexual harassment behaviours both within individuals’ lifetimes and within the last 12 months were: unwelcome sexual jokes, staring or looks, and sexual comments.”
Actual crimes ignored
Meanwhile, British police are being harshly criticized for appearing to turn a blind eye to more serious actions. A recent report confirmed that the British government suppressed evidence of Pakistani Muslim pedophile gangs to avoid accusations of racism. Many of the victims who sought justice were turned away by British authorities, who feared appearing prejudiced against Muslims. A recent audit conducted by Baroness Louise Casey on behalf of the British government found that when victims reported the sexual assaults to police, they were “ignored, treated like criminals and often arrested themselves.” In several cases, girls as young as 13 who were found being sexually exploited by several Pakistani men were arrested for being drunk and disorderly. The men were not charged. In other cases, parents were arrested when they tried to rescue their children from these pedophile rings.
Casey’s report confirmed that police deliberately did not record the ethnicity of the sex offenders because it might be seen as racist. Public officials have ignored the issue “for fear of appearing racist, raising community tensions or causing community cohesion problems.”
Last year, the Labour government drew criticism for cracking down on anti-immigration riots triggered by the Southport stabbings while allowing Muslim rioters to rampage freely. Police were noticeably absent when hundreds of migrants attacked a bar, destroyed cars, and chased down journalists. In a similar incident last July, West Yorkshire Police fled from a 2,000-strong mob of Muslim and Romanian rioters who destroyed a police vehicle and set a bus aflame. Police officers on the scene took flight, saying afterward they had been met with “a barrage of bricks and missiles.” The police remained largely absent for several hours as the rioters set fire to the neighborhood.
