AIBU to report abuse of police power?

Context.

What did you do?

What did he want from you? Sounds odd. Did he know who you were?

Parked in a private car park (with permission) - just a fairly benign task

I would report it if so felt u fairly targeted.
It could be someone matching your description has done something.

Whose car park was it? The police’s?

I’m sorry, but there must be more to this.

Definitely report it. Police can’t and won’t get involved with parking on private property. It’s a civil matter. He sounds like a knob

How did he harass you?

He followed you into work and harassed you for an hour and 40 minutes?

Honestly, there is nothing more to it ...trust me if he could have given me a ticket / fined me / arrested me he would have.

No it wasn’t a police car park. The person who owned the car park didn’t have an issue (he didn’t even know who owned it)

So what did he want? What was he saying? Was he investigating a crime or something?

Or are you saying it was an hour and 40 mins of ‘you can’t park there’?

All sounds very strange, did you get his number? Was he definitely a policeman?

What actually happened? I'm imagining a situation where he says you can't park there, you say you can, you walk off and he, what? Follows you around for over an hour saying you need to move the car? Where were you? It sounds bizarre.

He wanted me to park somewhere else, no there was no crime he was investigating and there were lots of other people parked there also.

How did you get rid of him in the end? Police do get it wrong sometimes although it doesn't seem like it was his rule to enforce.

So did he give a reason why you shouldn't park there? How did you know he wasn't investigating a crime?

Definitely a police man 100%.

Pretty much I walked on, he then started phoning me & then appeared in my work. He was able to get all details from my registration.

Put in an official complaint he has broken the rules about use of information if what you say is true.

I think there must be more to this, how did he get your phone number? The DVLA don't hold your employment details?

Why didn't your report him as soon as you got into your place of work?

Was he keeping up a tirade for an hour and forty minutes, or did he turned up at your work within that time?

Seems very odd. Apart from anything else it's years since I've seen an actual police officer on the street doing anything, let alone getting involved in where people park.

Very vague of detail, op. If you are concerned then ring up and speak to the duty sergeant and tell her/him what happened.

He must have given you a reason why you couldn't park there? There's something missing from the conversation here. I do not believe that a police officer would harass you for 1 hour 40 minutes if you've done nothing wrong.

What was your response and attitude towards him?

How does the police officer know what your religion is?
Why would a polce officer bully a young woman?

Your registration number would give your name, address and insurance company. It does not have your phone number or employment details.

No way is your mobile number and work place recorded with DVLA!

Sorry- but the police don't get your place of work from your registration- your home address and possibly phone number, but unless you've been previously picked up form work and it's a 'known' address, I don't believe he turned up there somehow unless he followed you the whole way.

Was this "police officer" in actual police uniform, or did he just tell you he was a police officer? Did you get his collar number? What did the other people in your workplace do?

I think this absolutely merits a call to 101.

Rubbish! Sorry this just isn’t true.

No I don't believe its true either.

And how did he know your religion

I would assume that the OP is a hijabi, or possibly a nun, hence the "policeman" being aware of her religion.

The rest of it sounds peculiar in the extreme. I dont know ANY coppers who have 1h 40m to mess about with such a non-event.

Well, if a woman is wearing hijab, couldn't that be a fairly identifying factor as to what religion she is?

Sounds like there is more to this..

He called you?

How?

I agree this all sounds very odd.

It's not at all unheard of for individual police officers to be petty, racist, sexist bullies. If you have his number or other identifying details, OP, I would suggest complaining.

He followed you into your work and then phoned you for 1 hour and 40 minutes?

Or have I read that wrong?

A policeman decides to pick on you because you parked on private land, amongst many others who were not targetted , harasses you about it for 1 hour and forty minutes ( ?!) , gets your phone number from thin air and then follows you into work and continue to harass you , presumably in front of witnesses. And you have done nothing except the civil trespass ( which he is somehow monitoring without any input or complaint from the owner - not a police matter anyway ) .

Either you have left a huge amount out or this is a fabrication.

Complain. He sounds like a twat. Most of them are tbf.

Things that didn't happen #2356

OP either you're really being vague or this didn't happen. The police cant even get those details like place of work, from your reg.

Why even make this up?

It is not unheard of for some police to petty etc, however, police do not have anything to do with private car parks. It would be a civil matter. Nor do the police get your phone number or work details from a registration number. Why was he ringing you OP if he was with you?

Place of work from car reg? I don’t think so.

The police must have some way of getting a phone number from a number plate, I had them call me on my mobile when someone broke into my car. Presume reg was all they had to track me down?

Surely the police are too busy picking up actual crime and things that have been reported? I'm not sure I believe it either, or feel there are huge chunks missing.

You can’t track down phone numbers from number plates. You can obviously check other systems with the persons name and if they have been in contact with the police previously then it may be recorded.

But not against a registration plate.

Surely the police are too busy picking up actual crime and things that have been reported?

Not according to HarryTheOwl ...

Fairly sure the DVLA have no record of my employer.

Can it happen? Yes,police officers(fire fighters, doctors, accountants etc) can be dicks just like any other people.
Did it happen? No idea.

As for religion, some of them have specific dress codes that make their followers easily identifiable,particularly the women.

If it happened exactly as you say OP then you have every right to complain and you should do so.

They can't get your phone number and work place from the DVLA

Thanks to all those who genuinely replied instead of accusing me of being a liar ....I think I was lacking confidence to report but I will. Thank you.

....yes I am realise I’m being vague in case of being recognised but that was the “issue”. Parking in a private car park. I don’t live in England

Definitely a police man 100%.

Pretty much I walked on, he then started phoning me & then appeared in my work. He was able to get all details from my registration.

Well you do have grounds to complain.....if it happened like you said....just remember to include the details you left out

If you were believed you were harassed then yes you should definitely report it. Otherwise this person is just going to continue getting away with abusing his power.

Glad to see people’s faith in the UK police and that it’s somewhere else.

If this is in a non-UK country, who the hell knows what police can or cant do, what is or is not an abuse of their powers, or anything else! For all we know, his behaviour may be perfectly legal and part of his job description, and you wont get anywhere reporting him.

Did other people at your workplace say anything?

So it’s not England. Is it the Uk or a completely different place altogether? . That is fairly crucial information. ( if it was the UAE for example I’d have imagined they’d be free to do as they pleased)

Do police never act inappropriately in England then? Never??

This thread is like pulling teeth

So why couldn’t you park there according to him? He must have given a reason.

I suspect yabu op if this is true...and that maybe it’s you on the power trip tbph, revising to engage with a police officer out of some principal not to 🤷🏻‍♀️

Do police never act inappropriately in England then? Never??

No ones saying that. The OP said it didn’t happen in England and it is relevant to find out where since police powers can vary wildly.
For the record I’ve never known police in “ England” give two shits about parking In a private car park - certainly not to the extent of hanging around that amount of time.

@colchesterelderly. I have no faith in the uk police at all. The ones I’ve encountered have been unworthy of the job title. Two weeks ago after reporting thug teens jumping in cars and throwing rocks at house windows, I was told off for opening my door and screaming at them to scare them off. I was told to shut my blinds and ignore it , and hopefully they’ll get bored. I asked if he would do the same if it was his property he worked hard for and he smirked and shrugged.
20 years ago a van driver deliberately hit me on my motorcycle because I was sticking to a reduced speed limit on a dual carriageway . I got the ref, reported it. An officer came out and took a statement. Weeks passed and heard nothing, so rang to ask what’s going on. He had failed to log it and file the report. I tell them I want to proceed and take action, but the useless twat said he lost the paper statement and doesn’t have time to come out again so he dropping it. I was nearly killed and he couldn’t be arsed.
I have loads of instances where the police are beyond shit.

In Ireland police can get mobile phone details from the registration details. They can check the cars registered owner details including phone number.

* on cars

I wondered if this was one of those threads where the OP pretends to be part of a film plot

I think I’d make it more exciting if I was doing that though 🤗 ....id quite like to be a superhero that could fly though. That’d be pretty cool

I won’t be replying again but thanks to those who genuinely answered 💐

Have a lovely rest of your evening

Hi OP

People find it hard to fathom that others have different experiences to them, especially where prejudice may be at play.

Hence, the what did you do questions!

If this happened as you say, it is very important that you report him. This data will help to identify and build up a profile of those officers that abuse their power.

It's interesting. A large proportion of this board would be able to see the hypocrisy in a rape/victim balling scenario, but can not possibly do it when race is the defining factor..... Queue the series of posts that will offer all the possible scenario's, most of which will be a lot more imaginative than accepting an officer could just be being racist - something people of colour almost unilaterally have no issue with recognising and believing because of their learnt experience.

Camera phones, not respecting and believing other human beings, has been the only thing that has changed this in America. Yet holding racists to account before victim blaming as standard still has some way to go.

If thats what you felt, don't doubt yourself. Especially, by prioritising the assumptions of those that don't even have the wisdom to see that their lived experience doesn't actually qualify them to be expert, or even moderately as knowledgeable on this subject.

If they were invested in trying to understand your truth, as much as they are in trying to support the idea that racism couldn't have possibly existed (like minorities don't report this ALL the time) then posters would have been flooding in to at least ask you 'why' you feel the way you do!

I believe you OP. I believe its a lot more likely that you have experienced this than it is for an individual to randomly come on a forum of largely white users to fabricate a story of police racism.

I have no problem with believing peoples accounts, just as I would in a rape case, and I don't victim blame as standard - ironically a term I learnt on Mumsnet many years ago.

Don't doubt yourself.

Too vague. Could be a true story or not we just don’t have the facts or even location.

Any yes, police can act badly. No one doubts that.

What was the point of being vague then saying its not england then buggering off?

Good post Home2018 absolutely right.

If they were invested in trying to understand your truth

But what is her truth, by her own admission she leaves out details and won't tell us what country she is in..

This is just such a weird post.

Oh look, there goes the 'race card' post, there's always one.

Only an idiot would believe that people voluntarily want to find reasons why others don't like them, and why they shouldn't feel the same, or equal in nations that they have chosen to make their home or that they were bloody born in!

You know, just the same as women embellish misogyny, or the data around woman's pay being an institutional problem pretty much globally, as apposed to the data speaking for itself - what nation does racism not exist? Why are police not capable of being racist?

And, why does the country she's in make any difference. She asked whether she should report a case of a policeman abusing his powers.

If she was in Iceland, would you say no?

Gaslighting 101.

These answers are actually quite pathetic and this hand wringing is soooooo predictable. It happens all of the time.

Don't give these people too much of your headspace OP.

Unfortunately, this board has not shown itself to be very intelligent as far as understanding racial experiences of others.

In any other situation you wouldn't argue with idiots so don't bother doing it here.

Report it.

Oh look, there goes the 'race card' post, there's always one.

Only an idiot would believe that people voluntarily want to find reasons why others don't like them, and why they shouldn't feel the same, or equal in nations that they have chosen to make their home or that they were bloody born in!

You know, just the same as women embellish misogyny, or the data around woman's pay being an institutional problem pretty much globally, as apposed to the data speaking for itself. What nation does racism not exist? Why are police not capable of being racist?

And, why does the country she's in make any difference. She asked whether she should report a case of a policeman abusing his powers. If she was in Iceland, would you say no?

Gaslighting 101.

These answers are actually quite pathetic and this hand wringing is soooooo predictable. It happens all of the time.

Don't give these people too much of your headspace OP.

Unfortunately, this board has not shown itself to be very intelligent as far as understanding racial experiences of others.

In any other situation you wouldn't argue with idiots so don't bother doing it here.

Report it.

If she was in Spain that would be weird, if in Iran then sinister and scary.

I guess the only reason the country is relevant to the question of "shall I report a police officer who harassed me" would be that in some countries it may be dangerous to report a police officer.

The country she’s in makes all the difference in the world to whether she should complain or not. Saudi Arabia anyone.

Or the fact that most people on here is guess are in the UK where details about your workplace isn’t on your car reg info. I guess your name is, and they could’ve Googled it but that sounds spectacularly stalkerish.

Lol so the story is easier to believe if it's not a European or UK police officer involved?
....

If its a Saudi officer don't both reporting. If its a UK officer you must be making this up.
.....

All elements of vicim blaming first, and twisting yourselves in knots to do everything but believe the OP. Why?
.....

It would be good to see you invest the same energy in to supporting a person that is saying they are distressed at the behaviour they've received at the hands of an abusive man
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Instead, your all so invested in protecting the idea that your experience of the world is the only one, and police can't be racist first. The OP must have done something to encourage this.
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Do the vicim blaming parallels not ring bells. Short skirts. Rape. Asking for it. What did you do to encourage him type thing?
....

Some very ugly characteristics have been displayed here.

God there are some weary people on this thread. Crack on OP report away.... good luck.

Most of thread has been posters holding on to little snippets of information to 'prove' the op is making this up, or to find explanations as to why he acted the way he did.
....

There has literally been one or two posters that have focused on the question the OP asked.
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Should she report?
Who can honestly say, with the information that she provided, she shouldn't?
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Why you're invested in protecting the notion that police, or your society, or you can't be racist, but others can?
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Naive at best, stupid at worst.
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Definitely white privilege at its finest!
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This thread is full of those that are clearly very backwards on this topic OP. Please do not take any of these posts to heart. They are not qualifiable opinions.
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Trust yourself.

@ironmanisnotdead oink oink.

Anyway OP sorry I didn't realise you weren't in the UK. The answer to your question depends on what would happen as a result in the country you're in. Morally of course you always should. In practical terms, less clear cut. In some countries this would be a very dangerous thing to do. I'm sorry this happened to you.

You’ll be lucky to find a cop in the uk who has that amount of time to do real work!

Would be interesting to hear where you are op, that won’t out you?

Bloody hell are we playing bingo or something?

The OP posted a skeleton of events. It sounded odd to the average reader and their life.

Here’s my story:
My aunt got picked on by a man in uniform for a ‘crime’.

He was harassing her in the street.

It was a religion thing.

She was pretty scared.

It was for a public indecency offence.

She wasn’t naked or flashing her boobs.

She want drunk or being sweary or abusive.

Should she report him?

Should she have taken his badge and called her lawyer?

Oh I didn’t mention - she (obviously) is a woman and her headscarf had slipped.

Oh, it was in Iran and she is a citizen there.

So no, don’t report the little shit because you won’t be listened to and most likely punished. Say yes sir, sorry it won’t happen again.

I don't understand why people do this. Post on a British board, give no details, get advice pertaining to UK laws, then announce they don't live in the UK. It's an absolutely utterly pointless exercise.

It's almost as though you could post on the internet from anywhere in the world.

You can't, of course. That's all a lie.

Details do make a difference. If this was in Tel Aviv and the OP was Muslim then we’d all say ‘run for the hills’.

Maybe he was real life thread police sensing you were a troll.

Maybe he was real life thread police sensing you were a troll.

this made me snort omg

Do people really just 'walk on' when police are talking to them?

OP, I know you said you're not going to reply but in case you are still reading...

From what you have said he was massively out of order and you should report. I'm sorry this has happened to you.

However you have also said that you are not in England (I'm going to assume not uk). If I were you I would assess whether to report it based on the local situation. While in the UK you certainly get some problems, the majority of the police are good and would try to help and not cover up. That is not necessarily the same elsewhere. Some places, like America where in parts each town has it's own local police force, can be massively variable. Some places police are a law unto themselves. And some they are good people who would be disgusted at this officer's actions. Ultimately you need local knowledge to judge if it would be a good idea to report or if it would draw attention to yourself in a potentially negative or even dangerous way.

Whatever you decide I hope this hasn't rattled you too much and wish you luck if you pursue it.

<files away under TTDNH>

It’s not disbelief, it’s trying to work out what happened from very limited information.

There will be people here with all sorts of knowledge and experience, which is presumably why OP asked for advice.

The straightforward answer is, ‘if you think you were the victim of racially aggravated harassment, then you need to report it.’

But most people would want to know what had happened before they made a decision on reporting it, and that’s what isn’t clear.

Report.

1213

Quite a lot of police are little Hitlers IMO- constantly moaning about budget cuts, yet they still seem to have time to deal with trivial non-events like this and run their money making entrapment scheme to fine people for driving at 33mph in 30mph zones.

You've got to treat them like you would door-to-door salesmen IMO. Don't engage and don't answer any of their questions unless you're in the presence of a solicitor.

Another police bashing thread. How lovely. It’s nice to be appreciated 🙄

I don't see why police should be deified @HopefullyAnonymous. They are not perfect and deserve to be called out for their power-hungry behaviour when it happens.

This whole post is designed to get posters annoyed though isn't it. Drip feed a tiny bit, accuse the police of wrongdoing (no way would they know your employers address from your vehicle registation unless it was a work vehicle and not yours) AND be your one and only ever post. Yawn.