It’s long been known that the victims of the so-called grooming gang scandal were abused and degraded not only by the perpetrators, but also by many professionals. This included social workers, health professionals, and those in the criminal justice system.

But fresh revelations that come as no surprise to some of us (myself included) will nonetheless shock many others. New testimony reveals that at least five victims were sexually assaulted and raped by serving police officers, one of whom threatened to “hand her back to the gang” unless she did as he told her.

It is almost beyond belief. We already know that in Rotherham, at least 1,400 girls fell victim to gangs of men who raped, tortured and pimped them. But the town is also home to a number of police officers who were complicit in their abuse — and even, in some cases, colluded with the perpetrators.

Thankfully, these allegations are now the subject of a new investigation, but why were these men allowed to get away with this for so long? Other officers — though perhaps not directly involved in the abuse — would have known it was happening. And it’s certainly true that the perpetrators were only able to carry out these heinous crimes against the most vulnerable victims imaginable because they were allowed to act with impunity.

The cases of Wayne Couzens, David Carrick and other exposed abusers in the police show this isn’t just about a few bad apples. Policing too often attracts men who enjoy the power it gives them to harm vulnerable women and girls, knowing they can get away with it. The widespread lack of accountability has created a situation in which police officers are even involved in the gangs themselves, driving around known hotspots to pick up their next victim.

They take full advantage of the fact that these young women and girls are already being terrorized and controlled by men outside of the police force. These girls are also raped, abused and blackmailed by the very people whose job it is to protect them from such harms.

What needs to happen? How do we deal with the problem of police perpetrators? As research conducted by the Centre for Women’s Justice has unveiled, police-perpetrated domestic abuse, which also involves rape and sexual assault, is not only prevalent within the force but largely ignored, tolerated, and covered up. Many of the victims are themselves female police officers or civilian staff who have discovered that when they try to report these abusers, nothing is done. These men were never going to confine their misogyny and violent behavior to just one woman: they have already been reassured that they can get away with abusing women known to them, so what’s to stop them targeting the girls who have largely been ignored when reporting abuse by grooming gangs?

As long as misogyny by male police officers is seen as merely unpleasant rather than criminal, it will keep happening. Whether there is evidence of abuse (and there usually is), action must be taken against these officers, as the law requires. There is no shortage of warning signs, but where is the further scrutiny?

With the vast majority of perpetrators of gang-related child abuse still walking free, surely the very least we can do is stop those funded by public money from adding to the pain of these girls.

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Julie Bindel is an investigative journalist, author, and feminist campaigner. Her latest book is Lesbians: Where are we now? She also writes on Substack.

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