The question of trust in the police was back in the spotlight this week as former Met Police Officer David Carrick was sentenced for his attacks on women, many of which took place in Hertfordshire.

In Parliament, I urged any further survivors of his attacks to come forward, whilst closer to home, I joined police officers in St Albans for a shift.

Herts Advertiser: MP Daisy CooperMP Daisy Cooper (Image: Courtesy of Daisy Cooper)

The sentencing of Carrick came just months after the case of Wayne Couzens, another Metropolitan Police officer who last year was convicted of the murder of Sarah Everard.

The new head of the Met Police himself admitted that there are serious questions to answer, but it was also fellow police officers who brought Carrick to justice.

Detective Chief Inspector Iain Moor, who led the investigation, said this week, "The fact that Carrick wore the same uniform as me... I just find it totally abhorrent."

One of his victims was a police officer herself. Speaking this week, she urged people to think of the good police officers "still having to work with the bad morale and press not respecting them but still do the job, trying to protect the public. I class myself as one of those".

These comments were echoed by the officers I spoke to in St Albans when I joined them for a “ride-out”. I chatted with around a dozen police officers during the evening, and it’s fair to say there was a fair bit of frustration.

Like other public services, there aren’t enough hours in the day or enough staff in the force. Their jobs are hard.

And they were keen to emphasize that they are human too. Behind the mega-fluorescent uniforms, they have families, interests and sometimes difficult lives. They might have more empathy and understanding of a particular case than they let on.

They wanted me, and you, to know that, in their words, “there are good people here, trying to keep people safe.”

But the damage from the Carrick case carries on. We also heard this week that there might be hundreds more officers who should never have been recruited because of their past violent crimes.

Until these officers are rooted out, trust in the police will remain shaky, and this isn’t fair on the public or on those police staff who are working hard, day after day, running towards trouble when we need help.