Former police officer speaks of ‘rife’ toxic culture in the force towards women and regrets laughing along with it
17 January 2023, 12:41
Caller gained 'success' and 'popularity' by laughing along with toxic culture in the police
The caller told James O’Brien that looking back, she realised none of it was “funny in the slightest”.
A James O’Brien caller says she has now seen the light after previously laughing along with a toxic sexual attitude within the police force.
This call happened after David Carrick was sacked from the police force following his admission of 49 criminal charges spanning 18 years, including 24 counts of rape.
Jennifer in Manchester said: “I was in the police for a couple of years as an officer and also worked as police staff for a number of years before that.”
She continued: “I’m glad the conversation has gone the way it’s gone in terms of the toxic culture but I think it’s difficult for people to understand how rife it is.
“It is absolutely constant talk about what you want to do to a woman, look at her over there, look at whatever body part, talking about wives and girlfriends and how stupid they are or how they nag a lot or how they’re fat these days…”
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The caller added: “On top of that, it’s also the constant comments about idiots that speak up, people that complain, people that don’t know how to have fun, people that don’t know how to have a laugh, boring people that don’t like to have banter.”
Jennifer then said: “While I was there I joined in with it all - I thought it was funny and everyone used to say, ‘You're so brilliant, you're like one of the lads, you don’t complain and you don’t make a fuss.”
“It made me popular and successful in what I was doing. It was not until later life that I’ve looked back and I’ve realised and I’ve understood it's not funny, it's not funny in the slightest”, she explained.
She said she told her mother, a retired police officer, about it, who felt those comments were funny and that perhaps things had changed since her time in the force.
The caller felt her mother thought it was “best” to go along with the culture and that she did not want to “taint her 30 years of work”.
James remarked that this “perpetuates” the behaviour, saying that “what she accepted was unacceptable”.
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The former police officer then said she came from the hospitality sector before that “which is probably worse” and that she “was probably brought up to believe it was okay” because her mother would tell her not to “worry” when males would flash her on the train as a teenager.
In a sad point towards the end of the call, she said she was brought up to believe “the police are the good people…because that was my parents”.
“Now I think what do I do - are there no good people, is there no safe place?” she remarked.
Jennifer asked: “My child, what do I teach her if she gets lost, or if she’s scared or something happens to her? Where does she go?"
“I’m not really sure what to tell her to be honest”, she said.
