They joke about raping women and stuffing them in the boot: female police officers tell their work stories

[DaveCoaches]

www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/joke-raping-women-stuffing-boot-female-police-officers-tell/

I think this is behind a paywall, I will c&p some sections.

”Rape evidence was passed around for laughs"

“I was appalled by the way rape victims were spoken about. I had only been in the job six months when my crew mate showed around the evidence from a rape victim who had been left with very soiled underwear.

The offending item was in a sealed forensic bag waiting to be booked into property - when he ran about the office waving the stained crotch, visible through the clear seams of the bag, in people's faces. Oh how they all laughed.”

"He had been doing this for 30 years"

“After two years of being groped and continual sexual comments by my boss, one of my male colleagues stepped in and blew the whistle. He was disgusted by the behaviour but because of the rank structure felt unable to do anything until he actually felt I was in danger.

Thankfully everyone believed me and he is no longer in his job. What was even scarier was the number of women who subsequently came forward and told their story of this man's behaviour towards them.

He had been behaving in this manner for nearly 30 years.”

“They joked about kidnapping and mutilating women"

“My ex-partner was a police officer. He told me occasionally about the ‘black-humoured banter’ him and ‘the lads’ would engage in, that it was part and parcel of the job and that if I didn't find it funny it was because I didn't understand.

One story was apparently if they passed attractive women in the street in the police car, they would discuss how they would love to kidnap her, mutilate her body and stuff her in the boot. That apparently was hilarious.

I'm not making this up. When I didn't find it funny he told me I just didn't share their sense of humour.”

Appalling and shameful.

Sadly I am not surprised by this. Disgusted but not surprised.

Just one bad apple though, remember that. We shouldn't hurt the nice men's feelings.

Completely unsurprised.

Back to the old ‘women have very little idea of how much men hate them’ quote.

Greer goes on to say ‘The man regards her as a receptacle into which he has emptied his sperm, a kind of human spittoon.’ That sums it up for me.

I did ten heard as a copper plus 3 as a civvie.

Not once did I hear anything like that. I never saw a rape victim shamed, ignored or mocked. Never saw evidence laughed at, and sure as hell wouldn't have allowed it on my watch.

I was a detective, so dealt with LOT of rapes, sexual assaults etc including both victims and perpetrators.

Yes there is a massive machismo culture. Yes it's a huge problem. No, these comments are not normal.

As a female police officer I don't recognise this as common behaviour. It certainly wouldn't be stood for in my force area. I'm not saying things are perfect, there are certainly cliques but I definitely don't recognise such blatant misogynistic behaviour as being normal in the past ten years. Yes things were worse years ago , I've been an officer for over 15 years. When I first joined there would be some old school sexiest men who to be fair were quite typical in their attitudes as men of their generation who were not police officers. The majority of them have now retired. I've spent a lot of my career being the only woman on a team. There will always be people with the wrong attitudes, who say and do the wrong thing, but I can assure you that things are changing and now, from my experience, racist/sexist/homophobic attitudes and behaviour, quite rightly, get called out and are not tolerated.

Utterly sickening, just beyond belief. I feel very disturbed after reading those quotes.

@Carboncheque

Completely unsurprised.

Back to the old ‘women have very little idea of how much men hate them’ quote.

Greer goes on to say ‘The man regards her as a receptacle into which he has emptied his sperm, a kind of human spittoon.’ That sums it up for me.

Sad but I think there’s truth in this

To balance this, I lived with a met police officer for 7 years. I didn't hear a single disrespectful word from him or his partner in all that time, even after a few glasses.
Nor did he ever behave inappropriately towards me, beyond being grumpy with a hangover. Shame he wasn't keen on having children.

What has happened sickens me and makes me so depressed and angry, but NACAB.

Yet Sue Fish, the former chief constable of Nottinghamshire, has spoken of “institutional misogyny” so ingrained in the decision-making “they don’t realise they are doing it and why”. She reports police calling young women “whores” or “sugar tits”, older ones “Dorises”.

This is from the Times.

With respect Sue Fish retired years ago. I'm sure she did hear those kind of comments years ago. I can assure you in today's police environment it is not tolerated.

That’s mis attributed

It comes from this

’In January, five officers in an elite Hampshire constabulary unit were caught making sexist, racist and homophobic remarks and sacked. Women were called or referred to as “‘whores’, ‘sluts’, ‘sweet tits’ or ‘sugar tits’, ‘Dorises’, ‘a fucking Doris’”, according to prosecutors in a tribunal hearing in the case that led to the dismissals.’

It was recorded. In 2020.

Guardian is the source of that extract

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/oct/02/breaking-up-the-boys-club-how-sexism-still-damages-the-police

Male dominated work places are the common factor.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/dec/18/six-hampshire-police-officers-guilty-of-misconduct-over-offensive-comments

This is the full story of those officers in Hampshire.

‘Lawyers for the men claimed that stress and a heavy workload meant the officers “forgot to apply the filter” when on duty. The officers claimed the investigation into their behaviour had “lost all sense of perspective”’

Because it’s just bants yeah?

I think it is telling that when the Hampshire officer's behaviour was reported, it was taken so seriously by the for e that a bug was planted in their office in order to capture the evidence of their behaviour. Absolutely the right thing to do. So although the headline is that these officers had disgusting attitudes, it seems to be missed that the wider police force did not stand for it and undertook such an intrusive tactic to gather the evidence with which to sack them.

As I've said, things are not perfect but things ARE getting a lot better. The ones who continue to have these types of view and 'banter' are now the minority and are being actively sought out and dealt with.

Not surprised by this, unfortunately. Disgusting behaviour. Below the line. Uncivilised behaviour. Pack animals.

Forgot to apply the filter? The trouble with that is the idea that it's OK to have those thoughts and attitudes in the first place. They shouldn't be there at all. Then there'd be no need to think about a filter.

Shameful. I'm encouraged to hear that this is not universal, but it's 2021. There is no place for remarks like that in any workplace, any home, anywhere.

Thanks for clarifying that Carbon, I’d just c&p’d from the article.

@ffsgivemestrength

I think it is telling that when the Hampshire officer's behaviour was reported, it was taken so seriously by the for e that a bug was planted in their office in order to capture the evidence of their behaviour. Absolutely the right thing to do. So although the headline is that these officers had disgusting attitudes, it seems to be missed that the wider police force did not stand for it and undertook such an intrusive tactic to gather the evidence with which to sack them.

As I've said, things are not perfect but things ARE getting a lot better. The ones who continue to have these types of view and 'banter' are now the minority and are being actively sought out and dealt with.

And yet it keeps happening. The ones sharing the photos of bibaa and Nicole. The ones sharing pictures of Sarah.

The fact that more than 750 met officers have faced sexual misconduct allegations in the last 10 years and fewer than 100 have been sacked.

Unless a zero tolerance approach means that policemen lose their jobs when they sexually assault women and that they are prosecuted like any other person, nothing is ever going

Not at all surprised. My friend was sexually assaulted a few years ago and one of the officers who dealt with it made a joke about it to her. His partner, a younger woman had to pull him up. My friend complained and he was investigated. Apparently the arrogant prick was just trying to make my friend feel better