Within the hours main as much as Dua Lipa’s first headline present at Wembley stadium the stifling warmth was as placing as the colors. Followers resplendent in costumes impressed by their idol milled across the concourse, and teams of ladies took selfies, jigging with pleasure.
However among the many jollity, specialist Met Officers interspersed within the crowd have been on the hunt for one thing totally different: “We’re right here to identify predatory males.”
Looking out for offences starting from upskirting to sexual assault, seven specifically educated officers stood on standby as scores of feminine followers, most of them aged between 14 and 30, filtered into the venue. They have been there as a part of an initiative billed as “the primary of its type” by the Met.
The concept is to fight violence in opposition to ladies and women in actual time. In line with the power, studies rose by greater than a 3rd between 2018 and 2023. By placing officers in locations the place ladies could also be susceptible, whereas they’re distracted whereas dancing with associates or having loved a drink at a live performance, officers are hoping to convey down numbers by stopping assaults earlier than they occur.
Officer Sherelle Jones palms a Dua Lipa fan a leaflet in regards to the new initiative. {Photograph}: Andy Corridor/The Guardian
One of many officers on patrol on the Lipa live performance was 23-year-old Sherelle Jones. “I’d wish to be the assistance that I want I had if I used to be in that scenario,” she stated, watching a sea of pink cowboy hats and selfie sticks outdoors the stadium.
The patrol was first rolled out on 5 June throughout Beyoncé’s sold-out Cowboy Carter tour at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and can present an elevated police presence at 51 large-scale live shows all through the capital this summer season. In line with the Met, it has already led to the elimination of 1 man on suspicion of stalking and threatening behaviour, and the arrest of one other for upskirting.
“I’m fairly new to the job, but it surely’s been eye-opening,” stated Jones, who joined the Met final 12 months. “Even behaviour I witnessed on the Cowboy Carter tour after I was off obligation made me see that that is actually wanted.”
Many feminine concert-goers have been inclined to agree: hours earlier than the singer was due on stage, associates Maya Somerville and Anneka Terrance, who had travelled from Scotland to the stadium, had already deliberate their route house after darkish.
“As a lady, there are such a lot of issues that you simply mechanically do that you simply shouldn’t must,” stated 28-year-old Somerville. “Like I generally stroll house with my keys between my knuckles.”
An elevated police presence, stated Terrance, means “you don’t must be consistently wanting over your shoulder each two seconds”.
In line with the group, there have been 17 studies of violence in opposition to ladies and women at London’s large-scale music occasions final 12 months, however with the variety of such occasions greater than doubling in 2025, and three million folks anticipated to attend occasions at Wembley alone, police concern the quantity might develop.
Alicia Lengthy (left) and Alyx Spanton (proper). {Photograph}: Andy Corridor/The Guardian
Not everybody was fairly so satisfied that extra police meant higher safety for ladies. “Usually seeing numerous officers places me on edge,” stated 24-year-old Alyx Spanton. “However particularly once they’re male.”
Of the seven officers on obligation on Friday, simply two have been ladies. “It is a female-dominated occasion – there are such a lot of different ladies round you that you simply usually simply really feel secure. Ladies assist ladies higher than police assist ladies,” Spanton added.
Her pal Alicia Lengthy, 25, was equally cynical: “Once I hear the Met police, I mechanically consider Sarah Everard.
“For me, extra police isn’t the answer. It’s weird – this isn’t the setting the place I really feel unsafe. A soccer occasion? That’s the one which wants this. Not a live performance by a feminine artist attended by ladies.”
