More than 300 people have come forward to accuse the police of racism, corruption and victim bullying.
The incidents reported to the BBC included many encounters of misogyny when reporting domestic abuse and sexual violence, with one stating that reporting their rape to the police was ‘like being raped again’.
The claims follow a BBC Panorama investigation this month which revealed rampant sexism and misogyny among officers through secret filming at one of London’s busiest police stations.
Many of the women who got in touch shared stories of mistreatment by police forces across the country, with one woman telling how a police officer allegedly told her to ‘grow a pair’ when she reported being punched by her drunken partner.
She told the BBC that the police response left her ‘devastated’ and she was made to feel she was exaggerating despite having bruises on her faces.
She said the police ‘told me to grow a pair… followed by a chuckle. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.’
Another woman, who was pregnant when she fled her abusive partner who repeatedly raped and hit her, said she was not believed by the police she turned to for help.
She described the experience as ‘like being raped all over again’ and said that ‘what they put me through was worse than what I was going through before’.
In an undercover Panorama programme, officers were caught on camera sharing racist views about Muslims, making sexual comments about women being detained and dismissing rape victims
A screengrab from the BBC’s undercover report into Charing Cross Police Station. Pictured: Sgt Joe McIlvenny who described sexual encounters to colleagues
Officers have also been accused of being heavy handed and revelling in the use of force
She said evidence supporting her case was ‘willfully ignored’ and was told that without CCTV evidence of an attack ‘it is just your word against his’.
She added that she believes her race influenced how she was treated by police.
‘The colour of my skin meant everything was stacked against me. The language they used and how dismissive and mocking they were, was both misogynist and racist,’ she said.
‘They asked why I thought he was doing it to me – as if I was the problem, as if I’d brought it all on myself.’
A shocking Panorama investigation aired earlier this month showed officers on camera sharing racist views about Muslims, making sexual comments about women being detained and dismissing rape victims.
BBC Panorama’s undercover reporter, Rory Bibb, spent seven months up to January this year as a designated detention officer in the custody suite of Charing Cross police station in central London where he discovered that far from being driven out of the Met, racist and misogynistic attitudes have been driven underground.
During the filming, one off-duty officer said about immigrants: ‘Either put a bullet through his head or deport him.
‘And the ones that s**g, rape women, you’d do the c*** (with a weapon) and let them bleed out.’
He described an ‘invasion’ of migrants, adding: ‘The Somalians are scum. Any foreign person is the worst to deal with.’
Another officer detaining a woman wearing police fancy dress said: ‘Ah awesome. I’ve paid money to go to clubs and see women dressed like this.’
On another occasion, an off-duty officer remarked: ‘Islam is a problem. A serious problem I think. Muslims hate us. They f****** hate us. Proper hate us.’
During the programme one officer described how, if suspects refuse to have their fingerprints taken, he could pull two of their fingers hard to snap the tendons.
‘I love taking fingerprints by force,’ he said.
The head of Scotland Yard issued a public apology at the time, Sir Mark Rowley vowing that nine serving officers, one ex-officer and a designated detention officer would be kicked out of the force within weeks if found guilty of gross misconduct on ‘incontrovertible evidence’ of racism, misogyny, anti-Muslim sentiment and bragging about excessive use of force.
In response to this latest police scandal, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) said it was ‘working hard to build a culture based on integrity and trust’ and improving vetting and misconduct procedures.
Policing Minister Sarah Jones told the BBC that the government would not tolerate these ‘sickening comments’ and urged people to report them.
She said police chiefs had been given new powers to dismiss officers who commit gross misconduct. ‘We will root out those unfit to serve the public,’ she said.
