9 November 2013
Isn't it ironic? Well, that's how Alanis Morrisette would put it anyway.
It was only a few days ago my wife and I were out walking when a cop car with two male constables in it drove past. As they went past, it was extremely obvious that they were both looking intently in our direction. As one, the driver and his shottie took a long, careful look at this crumpet walking down the street.
Now, it's summertime, so the clothes are showing a bit more skin, and no loose jerseys hiding the package.
This particular woman they gave the twice-over to is old enough to be able to laugh it off, as we did, since my wife was the subject of the scrutiny. I don't blame the cops; even over 40, she's not a bad-looking chick, and still retains a magnificent dancer's physique - christ, I look at her all the time!
I made the comment to her that nothing would change in the police until a majority of officers were women.
It's all very well to go all Douglas Adams and say "It isn't easy being a cop." and I'm sure it's 100% correct - a job which involves scraping the scum off the underbelly of our society, having to deal with child murderers, rapists and violent filth isn't going to be a barrel of laughs all day.
However, that is no excuse for the general feeling amongst police that women in general are eye-candy, and all of the good-looking ones in tight clothes are looking for it.
Since then, the Roast Busters have been outed, and the sexism on the force has been drawn into much sharper focus. All I can say is to repeat again what I said some months ago. Real men do not rape.
The problem isn't cops, but society. Police don't make the law, they enforce the law, and in the same way, they don't create attitudes of acceptance towards minor things like stupefaction and rape of a child, they just turn the same blind eye that society has.
It is parents in society who allow their children to drink at the age of 13, not the cops. It is parents of boys who never taught them that it is not ok to have sex with someone who is incapable of joyously accepting, not the police. It is parents who don't monitor their children's internet, not the police.
As any regular readers will know, I am no fan of the cops and see them a necessary evil, but I am not going to stand up and condemn them for merely reflecting the society they police.
Copyright © Alan Charman