Former UK Police Watchdog Chief Charged With Rape

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Facts

• Michael Lockwood, the former UK police watchdog director general, was charged on Friday with six counts of indecent assault and three counts of rape against a girl under the age of 16, following an investigation by Humberside Police.¹
• He is reportedly due to appear at Hull Magistrates' Court on June 28, with the head of the Special Crime Division at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), Rosemary Ainslie, stressing that Lockwood is entitled to a 'fair trial.'²
• His lawyer stated that the defendant 'strenuously denies' the allegations under the Sexual Offences Act 1956, claiming that Lockwood will 'strongly defend his position' and continue to 'cooperate with the proceedings.'³
• The 64-year-old stepped down as the chief of the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) last December after police probes into offenses he allegedly committed between October 1985 and March 1986 came to light.⁴
• Lockwood was made head of the IOPC upon its creation in 2018, as the body replaced the Independent Police Complaints Commission. Previously, he had headed a government task force concerning the Grenfell Tower disaster and served as chief executive of London's Harrow Council.⁵
• Over the past five years, 500 UK police officers have been reported for sexual assault — of which ten have been convicted — and more than 300 for rape, according to a study published on Thursday by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and Channel 5 broadcaster.⁶

Sources: ¹Independent, ²BBC News, ³Guardian, ⁴Sky news, ⁵Evening standard and ⁶Al Jazeera.

Narratives

• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Elle. The UK police force has a serious problem, as officers are often revealed to be criminals living in plain sight. While the idea that such horrible events are only committed by 'a few bad apples,' people forget that a few bad apples, regardless, ruin the bunch. We must demand better of the police, admit that the problem is far too great to be solved internally, and see the police for what they have become — a gang network that only exists to serve and protect each other.
• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Unherd. While stories concerning the horrible acts of police officers toward women are disgusting, the size of a necessary police force in the UK is simply too large for such behavior to be completely eradicated. The concept is similar to the impossibility of ever fully getting rid of COVID. Though things can — and must — still be done to limit the issue, we must be realistic and acknowledge that, unfortunately, similar events occur in all corners of society, and no matter how hard we try, there will always be criminals around.