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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to report abuse of police power?

105 replies

SnipSnapSnip · 16/05/2019 17:53

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?

OP posts:
Divebar · 16/05/2019 20:31

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

LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD · 16/05/2019 20:32

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.

Home2018 · 16/05/2019 20:45

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?
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Some very ugly characteristics have been displayed here.

Dotty1970 · 16/05/2019 20:45

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Divebar · 16/05/2019 20:48

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

Home2018 · 16/05/2019 20:55

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.
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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.

Reasonstobeearful · 16/05/2019 20:58

@ironmanisnotdead oink oink.

Reasonstobeearful · 16/05/2019 21:01

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.

Bunnyfuller · 16/05/2019 21:04

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?

LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD · 16/05/2019 21:09

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.

UnicornBrexit · 16/05/2019 21:15

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.

Reasonstobeearful · 16/05/2019 21:16

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.

LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD · 16/05/2019 21:16

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’.

Pengrin · 16/05/2019 21:19

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

crispysausagerolls · 16/05/2019 21:21

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

this made me snort omg

magoria · 16/05/2019 21:35

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

Binglebong · 16/05/2019 21:42

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.

00100001 · 16/05/2019 23:25
NC4Now · 16/05/2019 23:50

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.

Bezalelle · 16/05/2019 23:50

Report.

1213

CloudyForest · 17/05/2019 00:37

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.

HopefullyAnonymous · 17/05/2019 01:10

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

CloudyForest · 17/05/2019 01:12

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.

PancakesAndMapleSyrup · 17/05/2019 01:20

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.

HopefullyAnonymous · 17/05/2019 01:20

We don’t ask to be deified. It’s a difficult job carried out under difficult circumstances with impossible pressures placed on us. I just find some of the comments on threads like these thoroughly disheartening.

Swipe left for the next trending thread