Victoria Police officers tell of rape and sexual harassment by colleagues as almost 1000 officers claim to be victims

RAPED, then shamed about it at work the next day. Men watching porn in the office. Preyed on while trying to do your job. For some women, this is what it’s like to work for Victoria Police.

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RAPED, then shamed about it at work the next day. Men watching porn in the office. Preyed on while trying to do your job. For some women, this is what it’s like to work for Victoria Police.

These are just some of what Victoria Police officers told the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission about the sickening treatment of them by colleagues in the force.

TOP COP: POLICE SEX CREEPS WILL BE SACKED

RAPE VICTIM

“I started at the Police Station after completion of my probationary period. As soon as I started the perpetrator started pursuing me,” she said.

“He did and said things that were uncomfortable and intimidating. There was a culture of sexual banter and innuendo at the station.

“He started asking me about my sex life. He would call my mobile while I was at work when he was off duty and when I did not answer he would call the station line.

“He repeatedly asked me out for coffee and to commence a relationship with me. He left unwanted gifts for me to find in either my locker or other places only I would find them.

“I tried to deflect him by politely saying that I was not interested in him but he wouldn’t give in. He was married. I told him I had a boyfriend.

“I did not know what to do. I felt trapped. An old squad mate said I should report it before it escalated.

“I felt sick but did tell the roster sergeant that I was worried about my safety on the van and concerned about his behaviour towards me.

“He took me off the van, but made me feel like I was an idiot and that my concerns were not of any substance. He said I was safe, even though I had colleagues that could see what was happening and would swap their shifts with me to help me get away from him.

“The perpetrator would just change his shifts to work with me anyway. I was scared, defeated, ashamed and felt isolated.

“He was allowed to continue his behaviour without management putting a stop to it.

“After a social event one night I got home and into the house and I actually thought, ‘phew, I made it safely through that’.

“The next thing I knew was that he was inside my house. Things started getting blurry. I was trapped. I couldn’t fight, I was unable to move.

“I am sure that I was drugged by him. He raped me.

“After that, the stalking and harassment kept happening; he kept changing shifts to be rostered on with me. He would turn up to my house uninvited. He sent me photographs of himself.

“Management didn’t do anything despite my repeated pleas for assistance.

“People would joke about the perpetrator’s behaviour all the time, saying things like ‘he will just get them drunk, it’s not rape then’.

“Another night the same perpetrator offered another young girl a life home. The same sergeant encouraged it.”

FEMALE OFFICER TAKING ABOUT THE RAPE OF A POLICE WOMAN FRIEND

“She got a lift home with a colleague and when they got to the front door he pushed her into the house and raped her. Then he boasted about it in the mess room the next day,” she said.

FEMALE OFFICER WHO WAS RAPED BY ANOTHER OFFICER AFTER SHE REPORTED CONCERNS ABOUT HIM

“I called the roster sergeant. I was worried about my safety on the van. When a young female member calls up and says the things I did he should have done more. He minimised what I said,” she said.

FEMALE OFFICER

“When I joined I was still a virgin,” she said.

“My initiation into sex was an attempted rape under a tree after a night of drinking. I went with him but there was force used.

“Next thing I know he dropped me and told all the males. Then there was queue. Literally.”

FEMALE OFFICER WHOSE COLLEAGUE WAS ALLEGEDLY RAPED BY ANOTHER OFFICER

“My friend had initially gone to her boss and told him the male police officer had been making sexual advances,” she said.

“Nothing happened. The boss should have looked into the allegation before the alleged rape even happened. But his career has flourished, he can’t be touched. He is protected. There is a sense of betrayal when you see them on TV.”

FEMALE OFFICER

“They would sit around the muster room and watch porn. One of the main impacts on me was the realisation that that’s what blokes do. But actually now I know it’s not. It’s what Victoria Police blokes do,” she said.

FEMALE OFFICER

“One night (on a work related trip) the inspector was in the next room and calling that he was thinking of me and masturbating and ejaculating on the wall between our rooms. I was really frightened with all the guys with a gut full of grog,” she said.

FEMALE OFFICER

“I was on a night shift. I was in the van with a senior constable. He drove the van to a secluded spot and started putting the hard word on me. I froze. I thought ‘what can I do here’. They saw young women like me as fresh blood. You felt like a piece of meat,” she said.

FEMALE OFFICER

“I worked with a woman and a few of the guys would blatantly stare down her top and comment on her body. You are in an environment where this is quite normal,” she said.

MALE OFFICER

“The sergeants are like Gods to the probationary constables. They are young and vulnerable. The young girls are eager to please and they are looking up to the sergeants, so it is like Christmas to a predator,” he said.

FEMALE OFFICER

“He pulled over somewhere pretty secluded so that we could check on people speeding,” she said.

“I was very junior. I didn’t know our call sign, where we were or how to use the radio. I felt very vulnerable.

“He started asking about what kind of sex I like. He kept asking me what I would be ‘up for’.

“I tried to move my leg when he touched it. I kept thinking ‘I am going to get raped in a police car’.

“Eventually I snapped when he started touching himself. I threatened to spray him. He said ‘you don’t have to be a bitch about it’. It was gross. It was awful. It was really disempowering.”

FEMALE OFFICER

“I know of another female colleague who, when she would go to a police function, they would ply her with alcohol. They knew that after a certain point they could line up. To see them in action is sickening. It still makes me nauseous,” she said.

MALE OFFICER

“A unit in my area only selects its junior members for secondment on how good looking they are,” he said.

FEMALE VICTIM

“It is devastating that my superiors did not protect me or the other females. There were a few sergeants that I told, but one laughed and made jokes about his conduct,” she said.