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.

but NACAB

Are you fucking serious?

As a rape victim who was on the receiving end of misconduct from the officers who were supposed to be there to help her, I have no interest in bullshit claims about how it "never" happens and "all my police colleagues are saints" .

You know that how someone treats their peers won't necessarily be the same as how they treat people over whom they wield power? Fuck sake.

If the women on the receiving end of these abuses of power had been listened to, Sarah might still be alive. So fuck right off trying to silence people speaking out now with your "not my husband" , "not all coppers" silencing tactics.

@ftw163532

As a rape victim who was on the receiving end of misconduct from the officers who were supposed to be there to help her, I have no interest in bullshit claims about how it "never" happens and "all my police colleagues are saints" .

You know that how someone treats their peers won't necessarily be the same as how they treat people over whom they wield power? Fuck sake.

If the women on the receiving end of these abuses of power had been listened to, Sarah might still be alive. So fuck right off trying to silence people speaking out now with your "not my husband" , "not all coppers" silencing tactics.

Absolutely. The NAMALT tribe really need to give it a rest on this one. Society is utterly complicit in allowing this institutional misogyny to continue. To quote a pp on another thread "it's in the fucking walls"

I was sexually assaulted by an ex and never reported it. If anything ever happened again i wouldn't report it because the police and the cps cannot be trusted to deal with it properly. Especially after this week, the police just seem to be one great big rapey boys club.

ftw and Feels

I remember a friend who joined the police telling me how she had to leave as it was so misogynistic and bullying culture was rife.

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

@Clymene I agree, this would be a start. In the wake of all the things that have happened historically, how are the public to know which policemen can be trusted? or even recently?

My DH knows a few of police officers. Well, one was sacked for 'taking a joke too far' when a female colleague complained. Investigated and then offered job back. I've met the guy and frankly his 'banter' is disgusting so have no doubt he was being inappropriate. Another is suspended right now due to sexual misconduct - wife & three kids at home have no idea.

It is rife.

@ftw163532

As a rape victim who was on the receiving end of misconduct from the officers who were supposed to be there to help her, I have no interest in bullshit claims about how it "never" happens and "all my police colleagues are saints" .

You know that how someone treats their peers won't necessarily be the same as how they treat people over whom they wield power? Fuck sake.

If the women on the receiving end of these abuses of power had been listened to, Sarah might still be alive. So fuck right off trying to silence people speaking out now with your "not my husband" , "not all coppers" silencing tactics.

Hear hear

Five years ago I called police as abusive ex was being abusive. It was late evening. He was on record and had been told one more incident would result in court proceedings.
The police were shitty and patronising. I was told off for calling at the end of a shift pattern. If I couldn’t handle what was being dished out, then I should be more careful about what I said and did. They decided that as a woman in her late fifties I should be treated as a naughty child. I was sent to my bedroom, under threat of arrest if I didn’t comply. Ex Dh was told gently to ‘give it a rest mate, and don’t go up there’.
Apparently he couldn’t be that bad because I’d let him back after a previous arrest and anyway after more than twenty years I should be used to it.’ Nicest blokes I’ve ever met! 🤬

I never saw a rape victim shamed, ignored or mocked

You must have had your ears closed then. Are you denying the number of cases closed as “no crime committed”? Do you think those victims felt ignored?

Or this review into how rape victims are treated:

www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmicfrs/publication-html/evaluation-of-rape-survivors-experience-of-police-and-other-criminal-justice-agencies/

It is very clear that the police force attracts a certain type of person . That needs properly examining. First though it needs to be accepted as truth! Only then can such people be identified, weeded out and then only good officers will be left.

Gilead that’s appalling. I’m glad you got out

One bad apple is a crock of shit.

The forces may not be full of men who rape and murder but imagine every member of any random police force of your choosing stood together. You can bet your bottom dollar if you asked every officer who has watched violent or degrading pornography or who has made rape jokes to step forward, you’d have a hell of a lot of men stood out in front of you.

... if they'd been given a truth drug.

@Gilead

Five years ago I called police as abusive ex was being abusive. It was late evening. He was on record and had been told one more incident would result in court proceedings. The police were shitty and patronising. I was told off for calling at the end of a shift pattern. If I couldn’t handle what was being dished out, then I should be more careful about what I said and did. They decided that as a woman in her late fifties I should be treated as a naughty child. I was sent to my bedroom, under threat of arrest if I didn’t comply. Ex Dh was told gently to ‘give it a rest mate, and don’t go up there’. Apparently he couldn’t be that bad because I’d let him back after a previous arrest and anyway after more than twenty years I should be used to it.’ Nicest blokes I’ve ever met! 🤬

Unfortunately I have a very similar experience. I went to a station after being assaulted by my ex. I expected them to take photos, a statement etc. They asked me what happened and told me it was my word against his. No further action.

It took so much courage to go and report that incident. It actually gave me the motivation I needed to leave the ex because I realised that night no one was going to save me from him. This was more then 10 years ago and I still feel let down by the officer who was on duty that night.

Cycling FFS
Well done you though.

I was raped when I was 20 and my rapist was found a jailed - not before I had to endure two trials as the first one resulted in a hung jury.

But I am absolutely shocked that my police liaison officer was really really nice. He was gentle and supportive, and he did offer to change to a woman if I wasn’t comfortable.

It upsets me a lot that my experience seems to be completely out of the ordinary. Horrible.

@Bobsyer I'm sorry that you had to go through that, but your good experience is the norm, unfortunately it's the bad experiences that get shouted about. Thousands of crimes are reported every day, hundreds every month that require specialist support officers like your case, most officers have good intentions and do their best.

Decent officers despise the bad officers as much as the public as the bad ones give everyone a bad name.

@Bobsyer

I was raped when I was 20 and my rapist was found a jailed - not before I had to endure two trials as the first one resulted in a hung jury.

But I am absolutely shocked that my police liaison officer was really really nice. He was gentle and supportive, and he did offer to change to a woman if I wasn’t comfortable.

It upsets me a lot that my experience seems to be completely out of the ordinary. Horrible.

My liaison officer was lovely too.

Unfortunately the uniformed officers I met beforehand were absolutely horrible, despite being the textbook “perfect” rape victim (violent stranger rape of a sober respectable woman on her way home from work). They still disbelieved me and implied I was drunk and making it all up.

I hope this comes out right, it's just me thinking out loud, and it's not defending (or meaning to), but I wonder if part of the problem is our expectations on them as a workforce?

As in: police are expected to be 100% ready for fighting criminals, chasing them down, quelling riots, dealing with shitty, abusive, or drunken people; endless mental health issues and suicides; all day in, day out none stop - while existing on relatively low pay and exhausting shift patterns that probably knock their health and social lives.

But they are also expected to be kind, sensitive, woke, and to respond perfectly to every situation with a knowledge of the law inside-out.

That just seems like such a difficult skill set to reconcile, and I wonder, does the set up mean that even the most well-intentioned officers eventually suffer from PTSD, becoming cynical and jaded, with the arseholes lasting even longer than others?

Again, not a defence in any way, more a pondering that these cases are possibly symptoms of a bad system for all people serving in it, as much as just random men throughout it. I don't know what the answer is. Better funding, training, divisions of labour, care - and then outside the police workforce, better mental health care for the general population I guess?

Maybe that's all bollocks though and actually it's nothing like I imagine.

I think there is loads that goes on in most men's heads that they don't verbalise anymore .. scary stuff!

@deeni entirely possible that is part of it - the attitude towards victims of crime of “fuck off and stop wasting our time” could easily be due to cuts/lack of resources.

That doesn’t excuse the racism and misogyny though.

I think you've hit the nail on the head @deeni . It is hard not to become jaded when you try your best to be everything to everyone and basically felt that everyone hates you all of the time. Pretty much every situation you attend you are meeting people at their worst or because something bad has happened.

Most officers just try their best. Every officer will tell you that there are make chauvinist misogynistic pricks that's they've worked with, but also that this is no longer accepted by either forces or decent officers. These bad officers are now widely reported and got rid of.

Posters on here criticising people who defend decent officers, or don't agree with their narrative that most male officers are horrible and misogynistic are part of the reason that so many decent officers leave the force and end up depressed, the constant battering from every angle when you just joined a job to try and help people is exhausting.