Police failure to tackle violence against women ‘infuriating,’ UK PM Boris Johnson says

Everard, 33, was kidnapped, raped and murdered in March by “There is an issue about how we handle sexual violence, domestic violence, the sensitivity, the diligence, the time, the delay…that’s the thing we need to fix,” he added. One woman is killed by a man on average every three days in the UK, according to data from the Femicide Census, an organization that tracks violence against women and girls. The group argues that the government’s new strategy to curb such violence “shamefully ignores” victims of femicide.The government has promised to take action to tackle violence against women and girls, but activists and the opposition say the steps it proposed were inadequate.Speaking to Everard is not the first woman to be killed by a British policeman. And campaigners fear she won’t be the last.At least 16 women have been killed by serving or retired police officers over the last 13 years in the UK, according to the Femicide Census, a group that collects data on women killed by men, and campaigners feel that tackling gender-based violence is not a police priority. And there are hundreds of allegations of gender-based violence by police officers every year.Speaking following the sentencing of Couzens on Thursday, London’s Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick said she was “sickened” by the abuse of power in the case of Everard’s murder. “There are no words that can fully express the fury, and overwhelming sadness that we all feel about what happened to Sarah. I am so sorry,” she said.There have been widespread calls for Dick’s resignation over what activists call the force’s failure to address the problem, and a statement by the Metropolitan Police issued on Thursday with tips on how to deal with lone police officers has been slammed for being tone-deaf.The advice to women approached by lone police officers included running “into a house,” “waving down a bus” or calling the police on 999 if they do not believe the officer is “who they say they are” after questioning them.On Friday, Johnson said he had confidence in the police and stood by the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, but noted that “there is a problem” with how cases of rape and violence against women are handled.He also said that the government is trying to “compress” the time between complaints being filed by women and the point at which action is taken, adding that he believes the recruitment of more female police officers could make “the most fundamental change of all.”CNN’s Kara Fox contributed to this report.