The police must reform to help deliver us from evil

“Evil” is an overused word. Because of that, it is sometimes inadequate, as in the case of Sarah Everard, though no other word will do. Her final hours and minutes: one’s mind recoils from the horror. Yet think of her family. For them, there can be no recoiling. They too are facing a whole-life sentence, of pain and grief, which will only end with death.

The public revulsion is understandable as is the call for action. There is a widespread insistence that something must be done and that someone is to blame. Implicit in all this is a belief that if matters had been handled better, Miss Everard would still be alive. But there are problems. Outrage in search of easy answers will not solve difficult questions. Suppose Couzens had never been on duty in Westminster. Suppose he had been prosecuted for flashing. Suppose a senior police officer had asked whether a man nicknamed “the rapist” was fit to be a policeman? One suspects that Couzens would still have found his way to rape and murder. Again, strong words are worn down by excessive use. The word “monster” makes one think of children’s fiction. Yet there are real two-legged monsters, who can live in society while using their human skills to search out their prey. Can they be identified before they turn into predators? Perhaps Couzens and others like him should be studied by psychiatrists to see if they can provide clues.

Those who know about prisons say that visits from trick cyclists is the least that Couzens will have to fear. There are hierarchies even among the degraded. The lowest of the low will take comfort in persecuting someone lower still. Prisons should be orderly places. The inmates are not there to commit further crimes. Yet if the only acts of violence in a British gaol are inflicted on Couzens, even the late Lord Longford might have restrained his sympathy.

Sympathy: a lot of policemen now feel that they deserve more of it, and there is certainly one point in their favour. As far as one can tell, Couzens was hunted down by first-rate detective work. It is said that such murderers often turn into serial killers. The police force which brought his career to an end ought to be commended.

That said, the police in general have few defenders. On the Left, they are castigated as racists and misogynists. On the Right, they are believed to be infected by wokery, uninterested in catching burglars and only in harassing motorists. A lot of disillusioned Tories claim that in today’s police, the way to earn promotion is not by proving oneself as a formidable thief-taker but by attending conferences on race and gender in a multi-cultural society. The result is a police force which increasingly resembles the Guardian letters column in a blue uniform.

Although those extreme positions contain a large element of caricature, there are difficulties both in leadership and in structure. In any organisation, there is no more vital component than leadership. Equally, in the whole of history, no organisation has devoted more energy and thought to leadership than the modern British army. Its senior officers never forget that everything they do depends on soldiers’ willingness to risk their lives. That requires training, discipline, morale – and leadership. Young officers are constantly assessed for their ability to provide that. Obviously, battlefield leadership is less important to the police, but only good, indeed inspirational, leadership will ensure a well-run force.

So might structural changes. There are regular calls for more bobbies on the beat and equally regular rejoinders that this is merely nostalgia for the days of Dixon of Dock Green and would in practice be a waste of manpower. Size twelve boots proceeding in a South-easterly direction along the Old Kent Road is not the way to prevent crime. Yet in reports of gang warfare and knife murders in South London, there are often references to parks or streets which have become no-go areas for the law-abiding. It may be impossible to reclaim those badlands without old-fashioned flat feet.

Above them, the current police forces could continue as they are, doing much the same while trying to do it better. In the case of burglary, that ought to mean vastly better. But at a still higher level, there is surely a case for an FBI. We have to live in a world of money-laundering, people trafficking, cyber-crime and terrorism. Far removed, alas, from prelapsarian Dock Green, this does require sophisticated policemen and techniques to match.

All of this needs thought. In the aftermath of the Couzens trial and with Party conference populism about to begin, that will not be easy. Although there are bound to be demands for Cressida Dick to be sacked, it would be demeaning to make concessions to win thoughtless applause. Perhaps her tenure should be reviewed by a small committee meeting in secret. It should consist of a retired judge, an outstanding retired chief constable – there must be one – and a politician such as David Cameron, Alan Johnson, or George Robertson. They would know how difficult her job is and that some failures are inevitable. But they could decide whether those are significantly out-weighed by the successes. If not, there could only be one conclusion.

I am writing this on Sunday. In churches up and down the land, congregations are reciting that well-known, age-old prayer; “Deliver us from evil”. It is a heart-felt need, yet the prayer will be easier to answer in private devotions than in public policy. We can and should take measures to mitigate crime. But there is a two-word description of the human condition which is beyond mitigation. There is a limit to what we can do to overcome original sin.