I used to be Raped By A Police Officer – Then He Was Promoted

Martin Ward retired from the position of superintendent at Higher Manchester Police in 2006 and believes requirements have fallen within the final decade:

“What we see now with inner police tradition is considered one of “us towards the world,” they usually just about pull up the ramparts. [This includes] defending their colleagues towards what they imagine are baseless allegations,” he explains.

Ward continues: “Should you have a look at the alternatives introduced to folks… what I’m seeing in the mean time is officers brazenly abusing their positions, brazenly abusing their powers, with out care. And someplace alongside the road, anyone has bought to handle this.”​

Harriet Wistrich, Director of the Centre for Girls’s Justice, assures me that there’s no scarcity of potential options to police perpetrated home abuse: from higher vetting requirements and knowledge assortment when allegations come up, to making sure abuse from a police officer is investigated independently.

Nonetheless, she believes that nothing in need of rooting out “entrenched cultures which are resistant to alter” and making “energetic interventions” will guarantee lasting change. In any other case, she warns: “we’re simply going to see extra abuse, extra abusers getting away with it, extra horrible tales and extra lack of belief and confidence in policing.”

In response to a request for remark from Glamour, the NPCC lead for Violence In opposition to Girls and Ladies and Deputy CEO of the Faculty of Policing DCC Maggie Blyth said that whereas progress has been made, “change hasn’t been fast sufficient, and far more must be finished to make sure girls and ladies really feel secure.”

She assured that policing is working to “root out these not match to put on the uniform” and foster a tradition that calls out misogyny. She emphasised the necessity for officers to be “upstanders, not bystanders,” and dedicated to implementing modifications via the Faculty of Policing’s new framework for 2024-2027.


*Names and a few particulars have been modified to guard victims and survivors’ identities and security.

Refuge’s Nationwide Home Abuse Helpline 0808 2000 247, obtainable 24 hours a day 7 days every week at no cost, confidential specialist assist. Or go to www.nationaldahelpline.org.uk to fill in a webform and request a secure time to be contacted or to entry reside chat (reside chat obtainable 3pm-10pm, Monday to Friday). For assist with tech abuse go to refugetechsafety.org.

For extra details about reporting and recovering from rape and sexual abuse, you may contact Rape Disaster on 0808 500 2222.

You probably have been sexually assaulted, yow will discover your nearest Sexual Assault Referral Centre right here. You may as well discover assist at your native GP, voluntary organisations similar to Rape Disaster, Girls’s Support, and Sufferer Help, and you may report it to the police (should you select) right here.