I was raped-and the police told me I made it up

[merrily]

http://www.vice.com/read/i-was-rapedand ... cetumblrus

Victim blaming at its worst. :x

[kiwimusume]

I cannot form coherent words, but my fists would form a very coherent punch if I got near any of these assholes.

[merrily]

The worst part is that the detective who... botched her case is STILL working. :?

[nomoxian]

The worst part is that the detective who... botched her case is STILL working. :?

Sadly, not very surprising...

[JesusFightClub]

Not fucking surprising in the slightest. And people wonder why I hate coppers.

My relative was done in court and part of his trial was that he had ripped out a bench (set in concrete) and thrown it. The police had "lost" the CCTV evidence which would prove he'd done this impossible act. The sheriff said "I am going to believe the word of a police officer" and he was found guilty on that charge.

Coppers can lie through their teeth and the uniform saves them. They can beat the crap out of you, shoot you or kill you and the uniform saves them. They can provoke you because they're bored and fancy a fight and the uniform saves them. They can refuse to believe you because of your past and the uniform saves them. They can taunt and torment rape victims, or stand by laughing when a "Paki" is beaten in front of them and the uniform saves them. They can make up charges to arrest you on and hold you in custody and the uniform saves them.

Tell me again how honourable and kind the polis are. In fact, no. Do not bother.

[Slt]

Can't keep my mouth shut on this one. This story is absolutely devistating, and the officers involved should certainly be punished to the fullest extent possible. Being a police officer can attract the wrong type sometimes- people who need to be in power and control others can be attracted to the profession, and make a bad name for everyone. Just as there are nurses who hurt and kill because of the nature of the profession (have you watched deadly women on ID?), sadly the nature of the duties of officers can bring the wrong kind. This does not make all cops bad. I happen to be married to an officer who did not go into this because of the power, but for the public service and making a difference. We have officers in our very large department who collect warm clothes for children, Christmas gifts every year so that families have a holiday, give money from their own pockets so that homeless can get a meal quite often. Bad cops are outliers, but the stories are so shocking that they quickly get a lot of media coverage- as they should. My husband and his fellow blue blood get called all sorts of disgusting names for arresting drug dealers, murderers and abusers- it doesn't bother him. He is not there to make friends with criminals, but he treats even the worst criminal with respect.

[Ramona]

I might be wrong (haven't been here that long) but I think JesusFightClub (JFC?) lives in an area where there is a great deal more corruption and whatnot within the police forces.

[lilah]

I am glad that women was ultimately prooved innocent and won her lasuit but it's poor comfort to knowing the policeman still has his job and can continue to abuse his power.

[Irishy]

I might be wrong (haven't been here that long) but I think JesusFightClub (JFC?) lives in an area where there is a great deal more corruption and whatnot within the police forces.

No, I don't think so. I've never heard anything about police corruption in the UK being any worse than any other developed country.

[thetabmeister]

I am glad that women was ultimately prooved innocent and won her lasuit but it's poor comfort to knowing the policeman still has his job and can continue to abuse his power.

I completely agree! There should be some kind of human relations department that fires this guy for his obvious misconduct!

[SisiL78]

This happened just north of where I live (Cranberry is a suburb of Pittsburgh). Its really disgusting.

I hope this woman gets her 1.5 million and she invests and spends it wisely so that she and her kid can live a comfortable life.

I think that there are a many wonderful police officers. I've also seen a lot of a-holes who use any excuse for a power trip. I just don't understand why there isn't a review process by which another police officer (with no connection to the first investigators) reviews evidence for a second opinion. And the quality of our public defense system is another issue because clearly her first defense attorneys were awful.

I'd think that they would fire the officer if only because he's an obvious liability who gets them sued for millions... even if they don't give a sh*t about convicting rape victims for the crimes of their rapists.... F---ing Cranberry should have higher standards.

[freejoytoo]

I certainly don't deny that there is serious corruption in the police force and a lot of wrong people on the job, but not all police officers are racist and corrupt. My cousin is a dedicated police officer and she would never beat up a protester or push a crime on someone for their skin colour. If I had experienced what JFC has I would probably hate the police as well, but I don't think it's fair to tar all with the same brush.

[MonkeyMomma]

I am glad that women was ultimately prooved innocent and won her lasuit but it's poor comfort to knowing the policeman still has his job and can continue to abuse his power.

It's fucked up beyond words.

[JesusFightClub]

I am sure people join the police from nothing but good motivations, and your family members will be among them. Don't get me wrong, I think coppers don't automatically join because they're evil. But it's a boys' club, isn't it? You have to act macho and cool and like the Sabotage video or you aren't a Real Copper.

My arrest worked out like this. I was at home preparing to clean the toilets. It was my birthday. I was hoping for a parcel so I opened the door (I am 5'0 tall so I couldn't see through the peephole) and eight coppers burst in, cuffed me and my flatmate and took us to the station. I waited 8 hours in a cell then I was accused of absolute lying nonsense in a hour long interview by the CID. I had committed no crime at all and hadn't even thought about committing one. My plans for the day were "Clean toilet, hopefully be sent a nice present, go out at 5pm and meet some other mates". My actual events were "Be arrested, wait in custody of eight police officers as they photo you and search your flat, stay for 8 hours in a custody cell accused of conspiracy, have dramatic interview with CID as you bleed down to your boots (I had just started an epic period) and finally be reluctantly released on no charge"

[wild little fox]

She is really brave!

Sadly, I'm not surprised either. I think the attitude cops can have towards people who were raped contributes to under reporting. In a perfect world Olivia Benson would be the detective waiting at the ER, but that's fiction.

[Bloo]

OT but I have such a crush on Olivia Benson...

[rollmeover]

I am sure people join the police from nothing but good motivations, and your family members will be among them. Don't get me wrong, I think coppers don't automatically join because they're evil. But it's a boys' club, isn't it? You have to act macho and cool and like the Sabotage video or you aren't a Real Copper.

My arrest worked out like this. I was at home preparing to clean the toilets. It was my birthday. I was hoping for a parcel so I opened the door (I am 5'0 tall so I couldn't see through the peephole) and eight coppers burst in, cuffed me and my flatmate and took us to the station. I waited 8 hours in a cell then I was accused of absolute lying nonsense in a hour long interview by the CID. I had committed no crime at all and hadn't even thought about committing one. My plans for the day were "Clean toilet, hopefully be sent a nice present, go out at 5pm and meet some other mates". My actual events were "Be arrested, wait in custody of eight police officers as they photo you and search your flat, stay for 8 hours in a custody cell accused of conspiracy, have dramatic interview with CID as you bleed down to your boots (I had just started an epic period) and finally be reluctantly released on no charge"

Yeah but presumably you weren't being arrested as part of a "ruin JFC's birthday" conspiracy. The police have to arrest people and the arrests are not made on absolute proof but on suspicion. Sometimes mistakes are made, and sometimes people are released because there isn't enough evidence to continue holding them or to make charges. It sounds like your day totally sucked, but the police can't stop and ask the person they're arresting "did you have plans for the rest of day? should we come back later? Is your period due to start?"

[JesusFightClub]

But I was arrested and held why? On the basis of absolute lies, is why.

They told me at first I was arrested because they couldn't prove my identity. Then when CID interviewed me after 8 hours in the cells, I was told I was arrested because I'd been at a secret meeting in a pub (which was so secret they had attendance register which I was not allowed to see and I suspect strongly didn't exist) to overthrow the monarchy. Not only have I been at no such meeting in my life, and not only was it the case that no-one would ever ask me to attend such a meeting, that's fucking stupid on the face of it. A secret meeting in a pub? That sounds likely, no? And a group of Scottish commies reckoned they were going to overthrow the monarchy?

It was a tissue of lies from start to finish. The reason for detaining me changed from copper to copper depending on who I was speaking to.

[ADoyle90815]

She is really brave!

Sadly, I'm not surprised either. I think the attitude cops can have towards people who were raped contributes to under reporting. In a perfect world Olivia Benson would be the detective waiting at the ER, but that's fiction.

I also think assholes like these cops are why rapes are often not reported.

[CynicMom]

JFC, are the UK police different from the US police? My understanding is that the US police have to actually charge you with something or let you go. They're not allowed to just hold you. Also I've heard that the US police try to act like this isn't the case, but if you ask "am I free to leave" they have to answer "yes" unless you're under arrest. Is there some sort of 24-hour waiting period on this law that they were taking advantage of just to harass? Does this law not exist in the UK? Am I completely off-base?

[JesusFightClub]

Depends. Here they said first of all "we're going to detain you because we suspect you will commit a crime" and then "You're arrested on the basis of....". You can detain someone when you have a thought they might do something bad. Arrest is when you are sure they are going to do something bad.

We were detained then arrested under the terms of specific legislation (we had a name for the Operation we were arrested under, which I will not reveal here).

[Austin]

We've never had any major run in with the police, and I've worked in law enforcement, but I am not deluded enough to believe that just because someone wears a police uniform, they are looking out for my or my family's best interests. Most probably are, but since they don't come with bar codes on their foreheads, I don't know who is corrupt and who is not, so for our own protection, we act accordingly.

I live in a suburb of a big city, and we've got our own police force. Either it's full of assholes, or on the few occasions we've dealt with them, we just got dealt a bad hand. When our youngest sons were in high school, the police liaison officer at the high school had one of them called to the office where she berated him for 15 minutes over not having a parking sticker on his car. He didn't have a car at the time. He didn't even have a driver's license. He tried to tell her, but she wouldn't listen, and this was probably complicated by the fact that he is 1) very shy and 2) has a receptive/expressive language disability so in the beginning, he had no idea what she was talking about or what he was being accused of. His counselor happened to see this going on, advised her of her mistake, and sent him back to class. Then the counselor called me b/c he thought we should know. When I complained from there, I was told I was "babying" my son when I asked for an explanation of her behavior. I took it to her supervisor, who had apparently bought her "story" and so got nowhere there. After another year of parent complaints, she was reassigned.

My sons have never been in any trouble whatsoever beyond my eldest having gotten an illegal turn traffic ticket. They are good guys and law abiding people. However, we have taught them from the time they were young to never talk to police if they are ever placed in custody. I especially worry about my learning disabled son. I can just envision a scenario where he is picked up and taken in and they ask him seemingly innocent-sounding questions about someone he knows, and then all of a sudden they twist it and he's charged as an accomplice of some crime. It can easily go from "Oh, yes, I saw that person at the gas station at 2:00" to the police accusing him of being a wheelman for the robbery of that gas station.

Look up "The Interrogation of Michael Crowe" or read about the Memphis Three. No, thanks. If lawyering up makes people look guilty, then so be it, but I'd rather my sons "look" guilty and say nothing and make the police actually prove the crime then have them try to "help" and have the police pin something on them that they're too damn lazy to do a thorough investigation of or be the victims of their tunnel vision.

I know many good law enforcement people from my time working in law enforcement. I also know enough bad ones to not be naive. And they're not necesssarily "corrupt". More like just lazy and sloppy.