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David Carrick: Policeman as Aggressor
Photo: Hertfordshire Police/AP
More than 43 sexual assaults on at least twelve women - this is the preliminary balance sheet in a scandal process that is making headlines in Great Britain.
Police officer David Carrick, who pleaded guilty in court, is charged.
Carrick was suspended from duty after his arrest in October 2021.
He had admitted to 24 rapes.
This makes him one of the worst serial rapists in the history of the country.
Plenty of clues - no response
But the police responsible for the Greater London area apparently ignored indications of sexual offenses in their own ranks for years.
As the British "Guardian" reports, David Carrick's superiors are said to have been informed of at least nine alleged sexual assaults on women between 2000 and 2021.
The Metropolitan Police said they failed to adequately respond to the increasing threat Carrick posed during his 20-year tenure.
Carrick was promoted in 2009 – he switched from patrol duty to an elite armed unit responsible for protecting embassies and government buildings.
Only the courageous appearance of a victim got the investigation rolling.
The woman reported that Carrick raped her, citing his good connections to powerful police chiefs before attacking her.
Humiliate and dominate
According to investigators and prosecutors, Carrick - nicknamed "Bastard Dave" - sought to humiliate and dominate his victims.
He is said to have called a woman a slave and urinated on others.
According to the Guardian, he is said to have bitten a woman in the shoulder in 2002.
He locked other victims naked in a shed for hours.
Carrick is said to have used his position as a police officer to initially reassure the women.
After the rapes and assaults, he warned them not to go public – nobody would believe them because he was a police officer.
Now the Metropolitan Police want to review any allegations of sexual assault against 1,000 of the approximately 45,000 police officers and employees.
Some rapes are believed to have occurred in London, with many in Hertfordshire.
Carrick met some of his victims through dating apps, others were acquaintances or chance acquaintances.
The investigators assume that more victims will report.
Harriet Wistrich of the Center for Women's Justice also sees systemic causes in Carrick's misdeeds: "His crimes and those of a whole range of other police officers reveal a deeply hideous, misogynist culture that was allowed to exist in the Metropolitan Police," she said.
This behavior undermines any confidence that women have in the security forces.
The 48-year-old is now waiting for a court decision.
He pleads guilty.
The verdict is expected in the coming month.
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