Female officer told it must have been a ‘dumb, ugly ---- to rape you’

Female officers say they have been raped, been told it must have been a “dumb, ugly c--- to rape you”, kissed, and bent forwards and backwards over desks.

First Nations police staff have been racially bullied, while Indigenous people have been referred to as “black c---s” and “smelly c---s” by officers.

And even the QPS’s top cop – the state’s first female police commissioner – has not been exempt from the scourge of sexism and misogyny rife within the service.

Police commissioner Katarina Carroll has again been held to account by counsel assisting Ruth O’Gorman KC, who repeatedly grilled Carroll over misogyny, racism and sexism within the QPS at an inquiry into how it responds to domestic violence.

The inquiry, run by Commissioner Deborah Richards and O’Gorman, has heard two days’ worth of countless cases of sexual assault committed against women within police stations and cars.

At the academy, the inquiry heard a commanding female officer told recruits, when referring to First Nations people, that they could “smell them before you see them”.

O’Gorman then pressed Carroll on a comment she made after an Indigenous woman died in police custody.

“In discussing that woman, you said: ‘sadly, she did pass away, sadly it was of natural causes. But we are in no way racist’,” O’Gorman said.

“You accept it would have been an absolute slap in the face for your most senior Indigenous officers and people of colour, who had met with you the month before to tell you of their experiences within the QPS, to hear you say ‘we are in no way racist’.”

Carroll justified her comment by saying it was in reference to the total 17,500 members of the QPS, who were not all racist.

Commissioner Deborah Richards interjected to tell Carroll she had been told there was racism within the QPS a month before the comment was made.

“You knew that was not true,” Richards said.

Carroll replied: “I know I have racist people in the organisation. I know that.”

“But why did you say that?” O’Gorman asked.

“Okay, I could have chosen another word,” Carroll conceded.

Officers have referred to First Nations people as “black c---s”, “lazy c---s” and one also said “we should just napalm Aurukun”, when speaking about the Indigenous community in far north Queensland.

O’Gorman pressed Carroll on whether she accepted the cases of sexism and misogyny within the QPS was an “extensive problem”.

“I know I have significant problems in some of those areas, and I know I have terrible individuals doing the wrong thing, but I know I can’t tar all of those people with the same brush,” Carroll replied.

The inquiry again heard further evidence about women being subjected to sexual assault in stations, including a woman who alleged in her submission to the commission that she knew five women who had been raped.

That female officer also claimed she was raped. She told the inquiry in her submission that another officer said to her that her alleged attacker must have been a “dumb, ugly c--- to rape you.”

Women were reported to have been bent over desks backwards and forwards, referred to as “frigid”, and rostered to work with a serial groper to determine who would “last the longest before a roster request was made”.

O’Gorman pushed again, asking Carroll to clarify whether she only thought it was pockets of the QPS that were misogynistic, sexist and racist.

“I’ve said areas ... I don’t know how else you want me to explain it. It’s prevalent,” Carroll said, adding there was concern in the behaviour of certain people, stations and districts.

O’Gorman asked: “Do you accept that you do not know, and the organisation as a whole, does not know the full extent of the problem?”

“Not the exact extent,” Carroll replied. “And that’s why I depend on all these metrics to give me a better picture of what’s happening.”

Attorney General Shannon Fentiman told reporters on Thursday that the behaviour from some of the officers was “shocking”.

When asked whether Carroll was the right person to lead the cultural change, Fentiman said she had an “incredible task ahead”.

The inquiry continues on Friday with police union president Ian Leavers called to give evidence.