AIBU to report abuse of police power?

[SnipSnapSnip]

Without going into too much detail as it may be outing I was harassed by a uniformed police officer on the street and then he followed me into my place of work. This went on for an hour and forty minutes.

For the record I have committed no crime whatsoever, he just was just on some sort of dictatorship. I suspect it was possibly my religion or the fact I’m a young woman that wouldn’t give in to his bullying behaviour.

Obviously I haven’t been charged with any crime, as I didn’t commit any, so apart from the embarrassment & fear I’m no worse off in the long run. Should I leave it & rise above it? Or report it and risk being targeted again?

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.