Many people do not realise that upskirting is a crime and fail to take the offence seriously, a senior police officer has warned.
Detective Superintendent Kate MacLeod from City of London Police said upskirting is abuse, and can escalate into “far worse” behaviour.
She apprehended a man filming up a woman’s skirt while off duty and on a day trip to the British Museum with her children in August.
The trio were in crowds around the Rosetta Stone, when she noticed that something was not right about the man’s behaviour.
“He was craning his head round to look at the stone and his body looked as if it was in the right place, but I could see his hand, he was holding a phone, was firmly pushed into the underskirt of the lady standing in front of him,” she told the PA news agency.
Shouting that she was a police officer, she restrained the man and took him to security staff, who confirmed that he had images of the woman on his phone.
He was then arrested by Metropolitan Police officers, as the offence took place outside the City of London.
Mrs MacLeod said crowded areas such as tourist hotspots and the Tube can provide cover for such offenders.
“Tourist sites where you get large groups of people are clearly going to be quite attractive to people who want to commit upskirting offences.
“There’s no way he could have done that if it weren’t for the cover he had from other people around him.”
There were so many images on his phone that she believes members of the public must have seen him filming victims on previous occasions before he was finally caught.
“Upskirting is still a relatively new offence, and a lot of people won’t be aware it exists,” she said.
“Generationally, people won’t be aware that mobile phones are being used in that way.
“This guy we know now had been taking a lot of images, not just that day but historically as well.
“People must have seen him doing this or had a suspicion and maybe didn’t do anything, or maybe they didn’t realise it was an offence.
“People don’t realise the severity of the crime.
“We talk about violence against women and girls, and I think a lot of people think that has to be physical violence.
“But actually this is still abuse, albeit seemingly low level, and those behaviours can escalate into something far, far worse.”
Jake Verano Gomez, 33, was jailed for four months at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court on August 21 after admitting recording an image under clothing to observe another without consent.
He was also put on the sex offenders register for seven years.