Shutterstock
Undercover female police officers in England have arrested 18 men for harassment after posing as joggers in known trouble spots. The Surrey Police Department’s month-long operation targeted areas where women frequently report being harassed while exercising.
The female officers, dressed in plain clothes, didn’t have to wait long for the harassment to begin. “One of our officers was honked at within 10 minutes — then another vehicle slowed down, beeping and making gestures just 30 seconds later — that’s how frequent it is,” Inspector Jon Vale told The Telegraph.
Inspector Vale explained that even seemingly minor incidents can significantly impact women’s daily lives. “Someone slowing down, staring, shouting – even if it’s not always criminal – it can have a huge impact on people’s everyday lives and stops women from doing something as simple as going for a run. We have to ask, is that person going to escalate? Are they a sexual offender? We want to manage that risk early.”
The results were immediate.
Officer Abby Hayward, one of the undercover joggers, shared her firsthand experience with The Telegraph: “We get catcalled. We get honked at. People slow down just to stare — or lean out the window to shout something. It’s so common, but it’s harassment and it needs to be recognized as such.”
She believes this behavior falls into two categories. “This behavior is either a precursor to something more serious — or it’s ignorance and it’s fixable. That’s where our interventions come in: to stop potential repeat offenders or help people understand that what they’re doing isn’t okay.”
The operation resulted in 18 arrests for various offenses including harassment, sexual assault, and theft. Despite these results, the initiative has faced criticism from groups like the Free Speech Union, which characterized the tactics as “bizarre social-psychology experiments” and suggested police resources would be better utilized enforcing existing laws.
Surrey Police defended their approach, with a spokesman telling The Telegraph, “These behaviors may not be criminal offenses in themselves, but they need to be addressed.”
A Persistent Problem
The issue of street harassment isn’t new. Five years ago, a UK children’s charity reported that 66% of girls aged 14 to 21 had experienced unwanted sexual attention or harassment in public spaces.
In an article published by The Telegraph at that time, a female journalist described being cat-called by groups of men while jogging as “a weekly occurrence.” After sharing her experiences on Twitter, she received dozens of similar stories from other women.
“I think it’s time we addressed street harassment at its root, with the perpetrators held to account,” she wrote. With this recent operation, it appears the Surrey Police Department might finally be taking that approach.
