I’m not ‘woke’. I’m not a prude. I can take a joke.
Joining the Police, I thought I was joining a professional organisation. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
It’s a toxic culture. It’s a boys club, not what you know but who you know. And they all protect each other.
I’ve heard male officers speak sexually about female officers…women are referred to as ‘p*ssy’. I’ve seen an officer watching porn on duty. If you don’t go along with it, laugh and see it as ‘banter’ you are ostracised.
I had an emotionally abusive (secret) relationship with a senior officer which has been one of the worst experiences of my life and left me traumatised. After a year I finally spoke out. He’s very popular and I was a newbie, so they swept it all under the rug and didnt want to know. I later found out he has had secret affairs with nearly every new PC/PCSO over the last 15 years! He just gets moved stations, and so it all starts again. He regularly pestered me for sex whilst on duty (I refused). He would come round my house whilst I was on rest days and he was on duty asking for it. If only the public knew!
Constabulary: N/A or Prefer not to say
Timespan: 2 years
Did you report it to the police?: Yes
Do you want to revisit this with the police?: No
Could you tell us why not? I have no faith in them. They have allowed my abuser to ruin my life over and over again.
Your ethnicity: White British
Have you experienced suicidality due to this?: Thoughts/feelings
Are you disabled as defined under the Equality Act 2010?: No
illustration by Danny Noble
