I was arrested for being drunk and disorderly on a train and booked into custody, had all my possessions removed and put into a cell in my clothes (T-shirt and jeans)
About two hours afterwards, two male police officers said that I had to remove my clothes and put on the blue coverall that they brought in – it was made of a plasticky nylon material. Belligerently I refused, so without further ado they removed my clothes (all of them). I resisted and they used a pair of scissors to cut off my t-shirt bra and pants. They made horrible remarks about my body and how “shaggable” I wasn’t. The following day I was given my clothes back, which I tried to repair to wear – the bra and knickers were useless, but the t-shirt I could wear with the sleeve tied up.
In my dishevelled state with no bra or knickers I was threatened with court. Feeling extremely vulnerable I accepted the D&D caution as I felt deeply ashamed of what had happened and that if only I had stayed at my friends house that night none of this would have happened.
My work demands an enhanced DBS, which means that I am reminded of this shameful and humiliating episode whenever I change employers – I wish I had the balls to complain at the time but I was left feeling very traumatised and I will never trust the police again.
Constabulary: N/A or Prefer not to say
Timespan: a decade ago
Did you report it to the police?: Prefer not to say
Your ethnicity: White British
Have you experienced suicidality due to this?: Prefer not to say
Are you disabled as defined under the Equality Act 2010?: No
