Boris Johnson has said he was “outraged” by a Tory police commissioner who said women “need to be streetwise” in the wake of the Sarah Everard case.
Wayne Couzens, a Metropolitan Police officer, falsely arrested Ms Everard as she walked home in south London before raping and murdering her.
North Yorkshire police, fire and crime commissioner Philip Allott said Ms Everard “never should have submitted” to the arrest.
He later apologised but Tory chairman Oliver Dowden said the prime minister “profoundly disagreed” with Mr Allott and his “stupid” comments.
They come on the back of similar utterances by Kit Malthouse, who told LBC that in light of the “awful” Couzens case it is “perfectly reasonable for somebody to seek verification about an officer’s bona fides”.
But as Ash Sarkar pointed out, “Couzens had a warrant card that would have identified him as a legitimate police officer, and arrested Sarah Everard under the guise of coronavirus powers.
“There’s nothing new in here which could have stopped him abusing his powers as a cop.”
She went on to say that the Everard case is being framed in the wrong way.
“We’re framing this as ‘how to prevent another Sarah Everard’, and not ‘how to prevent another Wayne Couzens,” Novara Media’s contributing editor said.
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