Wanted : Female police officers
I went to the police station today to seek advice (sorry, not at a liberty to say for what and for whom). This is a small story about my experience.
I went during lunch hour. Even though there were only 2 police officers on duty, there was no crowd and I did not have to wait. I sat down on one side of the counter. The other police officer was attending to someone else seated on the other side — 1 meter away. I could hear what they were saying. I felt uncomfortable having to talk about my case out in the open — there was no privacy or confidentiality at all.
The officer attending to me was very nice and helpful, within the constraints of what he could do. I told him I was seeking advice as I didn’t know whether this case was reportable and under what charges. I also told him that I was uncomfortable going into detail at this early stage — and in such an open space. He was very understanding, and asked the appropriate questions for him to know how to help, while giving me sufficient space and respect. Then he advised me to lodge a report formally, and under what charges.
He asked if I would feel more comfortable speaking to a female officer. I was quite impressed that he made such a suggestion, without me having to bring that request up. When I said that I would prefer a female officer, he picked up the phone to call for one. I think he made at least 10 phone calls. And still couldn’t find an available female officer — they were all either on call, or off duty.
He was most apologetic, and explained that he had tried calling 2 divisions and still could not locate a female officer. He asked if I wanted to lodge a report online. I offered to come back on Monday, because given the complexities of the case, I wanted to have the advice and assistance of an officer.
He then said that the system was such that he wouldn’t be on duty on Monday, and didn’t know which female office would be on duty and would be able to attend to me. In another words, I couldn’t make an appointment. He said the best thing for me to do was to lodge a report online, specifying that I wished to speak to a female officer, and then wait for this officer to liase with me. I thanked him and left.
And went to my computer to write this post = )
I wonder how they would have handled an emergency case. Mine wasn’t.
It’s fair to accuse me of working from the ivory tower thus far. Most of my experience come from research, or from the stories of my social worker , cousellor, and advocacy work friends. Apart from my own life experiences, I have very little experience of actually going through the system.
So it was a learning experience for me today. I’m quite sure those of you who unfortunately have had to go these experiences, whether for yourself, your loved one, or your client, might find it familiar. I’ve certainly heard stories before. So I’m just sharing my experience.
If you’ll like to share your experience, you are very welcomed to put them in the comments. Hopefully if more people spoke up, there would be sufficient pressure and motivation for the different public entities in our country to make improvements. I think over the decades, we’ve come very far. But there’s always going to be room for improvement, which depends on everyone’s contributions — through suggestions and feedback, or through doing the hardwork of making the improvements happen. Which may be a good thing — allows people to keep their jobs and not get retrenched.
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That very afternoon a female officer contacts me, much sooner than expected. When I went to the station to meet her, she was very helpful and professional. This was despite being swamped with cases and a never ending stream of incomming calls. I think her offers to help went beyond the basic call of duty. We do have good people around = ) We just need more of them. Many more.
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For more reading, refer to:
Sexual Assault Training of Law Enforcement Officers
Results of a Statewide Survey
Authors: Linda M. Kinney ab; Eric J. Bruns bc; Patrick Bradley d; Joyce Dantzler e; Mark D. Weist
For more reading, refer to:
Sexual Assault Training of Law Enforcement Officers
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