Plain-clothes officers in London will video call a uniformed colleague to confirm their identity

After the murder of Sarah Everard who was killed by a serving officer in a fake arrest, it has been announced that plain-clothes officers in London will video call a uniformed colleague to confirm their identity when stopping a lone woman.

Dame Cressida Dick has said the new system would be introduced after the murder of Sarah Everard. She told City Hall “the onus is on the officer” to make lone women feel safe.

The video call will be “instigated by the officer and not by the woman having to ask for this” Dame Cressida said.

This comes after the Met was heavily criticised for suggesting that women should try to flag down a passing bus.

Dame Cressida said it was not the force’s intention to create headlines that alarmed people.

She told London Assembly members that the new scheme would be called Safe Connection.

The commissioner explained it would allow a woman who was stopped by an officer to immediately have verification and security that they are genuine.

She also said: “Because my plain-clothes officers will call into a control room, they will then have a video call with a sergeant in uniform who will say ‘yes that’s so-and-so, he’s PC XYZ. And so on.”

Wiltshire Police already announced a similar scheme.

She added: "The onus is on the officer to deal professionally with the person that they are speaking to.

"In the very unusual circumstance in which a plain-clothes officer is talking to a lone female, which is likely to be extremely unusual in London, we would expect them to go to every effort first of all to recognise that the woman may feel uncomfortable, to explain themselves well, to identify themselves well.

"It would normally be the case that they [officers] would be in a pair anyway."

Fears were raised after Ms Everard was raped and murdered by Wayne Couzens in March.