Wayne Couzens’ lies raise fears over how to identify rogue officer

The use by Wayne Couzens, then a serving Metropolitan police officer, of the tools of his trade to falsely arrest Sarah Everard has raised concerns over how to tell whether an officer is genuine or not and whether they are acting within their powers.

© Provided by The Guardian
Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters

Couzens showed Everard his warrant card and then handcuffed her before abducting, raping and killing the 33-year-old marketing executive. The Met says on its website: “Unfortunately, there have been occasions when fraudsters have posed as police officers, both in person and on the phone, to trick people into giving them personal information and defraud them of money.”

Its advice is succinct and does not help in cases of a rogue officer, such as Couzens, who was sentenced to a whole-life prison term on Thursday. It says: “If one of our officers contacts you in person, they’ll show you their police warrant card. This is proof of their identity and authority.” In Everard’s case this advice would not have been of use as Couzens had a genuine warrant card.

© Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters
Met officers stand outside the Old Bailey in London during the sentencing of Wayne Couzens.

Related: Wayne Couzens ‘used police ID and handcuffs to kidnap Sarah Everard’

Load Error

The day before Couzens abducted Everard, the Met announced it was issuing new warrant cards. Although it said it was not a response to a specific security concern, it came amid concerns about fake versions available online.

The only other advice given on the Met’s website if unsure whether the person you are dealing with is a genuine officer is to call 101, which will take you through to the police force in the area you are calling from. However, this, again, would probably not have saved Everard even though Couzens was not working at the time he kidnapped her.

The Police Federation says there are no regulations concerning off-duty officers but adds: “It is generally accepted that ‘off duty’ officers place themselves ‘on duty’ when acting in purported performance of their duties as constables, all officers will be regarded as being ‘on duty’ and thus be afforded the protection that such a state entails.” Based on this, it seems unlikely that a call to 101 would have flagged Couzens as acting outside his powers.

While police officers often patrol in pairs, whether on foot or in cars, this is not always the case. In 2018, the Met recorded 375,760 instances of “single crewing”.