Police chiefs have sparked fury after undercover officers posed as joggers to catch men catcalling women – with campaigners branding it a ‘nightmarish’ clampdown on free speech.
Activists have argued police should be using their resources to tackle criminal activity such as knife crime and theft – not ‘prowling the streets in search of lawful but disapproved remarks’.
It comes after Surrey Police sent two officers out running at rush hour to show the scale of harassment that women are facing.
A spokesman for the force said of the patrols: ‘These behaviours may not be criminal offences in themselves, but they need to be addressed.’
Condemning the crackdown, The Free Speech Union said: ‘Britain is in the grip of a surge in serious crime. In the year to March 2025, shoplifting rose 20 per cent, theft from the person climbed 15 per cent, and robberies topped 78,000.
‘And Surrey Police’s answer? “Jog On”: a county-wide sting in which female officers, dressed as joggers, run through public spaces trailed by squad cars, ready to swoop on anyone who cat-calls, wolf-whistles or makes sexually suggestive comments.
‘Perhaps Surrey Police should take their own advice and “just think” about whether prowling the streets in search of lawful but disapproved remarks is really the best use of police time in a county, and a country, grappling with so many actual crimes.’
The union compared the campaign to Philip K. Dick’s 1956 novella The Minority Report, which imagined a ‘pre-crime’ police unit hunting those who it believed would commit a crime.
‘Across the country, Dick’s nightmarish logic is fast becoming a technocratic rationale driving the authorities to clamp down on freedom of expression,’ the union said.
Undercover police officers have started a new campaign to crack down on men catcalling female runners – by posing as joggers themselves. PC Abby Hayward is pictured on the left
PC Abby Hayward, one of the police officers who posed as a jogger, said that catcalling is something many women are subjected to every day
The Free Speech Union condemned Surrey Police’s crackdown on catcalling
The Boxing Saves Lives organisation also hit back at the campaign, suggesting police have better things to do
Surrey Police sent the joggers out under the belief that acts such as catcalling could ‘lead on to other behaviours’.
But the Boxing Saves Lives organisation hit back at the claims, arguing that ‘performative boll**** like this makes [women] think [police] have their finger on the pulse’.
‘Have they got nothing better to do than to go finding new and inventive ways to be oppressed?’, they wrote.
‘This is not to say catcalling men aren’t the absolute worst toss*** ever, but you’d be pretty pissed off if they told you they didn’t have resources to attend a burglary, but had coppers free to jog round the streets to fight crimes they’ve prioritised to show how righteous they are.
‘Women and girls will be failed all the time by the police, but performative boll**** like this makes them think they have their finger on the pulse.’
Free speech activists argued police should instead be focusing on enforcing existing laws.
A Surrey Police spokesperson said: ‘Our priority is not only to tackle and solve crime but also to prevent it from happening in the first place.’
Reporters from the news outlet LBC joined officers on patrol during the evening rush hour in Reigate, Surrey.
During the operation, plain clothes police officers, who were dressed in athletic jogging gear, headed to areas identified as ‘harassment hotspots’.
Meanwhile, specialist units waited nearby to intervene at the first sign of abuse.
According to LBC, the two female undercover cops were ‘targeted within minutes’ by a man in a large truck who ‘honked at them and made gestures out the window’.
Inspector John Vale said: ‘One of our officers was honked at within ten minutes — then another vehicle slowed down, beeping and making gestures just 30 seconds later – that’s how frequent it is.
‘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.’
PC Abby Hayward, one of the police officers who posed as a jogger, said that catcalling is something many women are subjected to every day.
She said that the behaviour was ‘so common’ and that it needed to be addressed.
Surrey Police said that since they launched the ‘Jog On’ campaign four weeks ago, 18 arrests have been made for various offences including sexual assault and theft.
Inspector Vale added: ‘We know that this kind of harassment is significantly under reported thanks to a study carried out by Surrey County Council this year, which revealed that of 450 female residents surveyed, 49 per cent never reported.
Inspector John Vale (pictured) said that one of the officers was honked at within ten minutes
‘To date, we have made a number of interventions following reports of harassment of our plain clothes runners.
‘In these cases, it was deemed appropriate to provide education around anti-social behaviour.
‘For repeat offenders or where the behaviour is more serious, we will robustly pursue all criminal justice outcomes.
‘We recognise this is a significant worry for women and girls, and we’ll continue to patrol running routes throughout Redhill.’
He continued: ‘This type of harassment isn’t just being experienced by communities in Reigate and Banstead, but communities across the whole of Surrey, and it’s unacceptable.
‘We have female officers and staff members who have been the subject to such behaviour when off duty.
‘The message I would like to impart to perpetrators is this; your actions will not be tolerated.
‘Please reflect and ask yourself ‘is this how you would treat or want your partner, mother, sister to be treated?’
‘The next time you see a female jogger, just think, they could be a police officer with colleagues nearby ready to stop you. Your behaviour is not welcome in Surrey.’
