Rebecca Kalam: Ex-firearms officer wins £820,0000 sex discrimination compensation

Rebecca Kalam: Ex-firearms officer wins £820,0000 sex discrimination compensation

A Firearms officer who took her own police force to court Rebecca Callum exposed misogyny discrimination and a predatory culture at the heart of the West Midlands Elite unit we shouldn’t be having officers who post pornographic images of females labia and clitores how how are women going to be respected a tribunal found

That Miss Kellum was unlawfully treated victimized because she’s a woman the case revealed a culture in which male officers Drew pictures of genitalia on notice boards around a police station and in which she was made to strip down to her underwear in a training session the tribunal awarded Rebecca [ __ ] more

Than £820,000 it’s one of the biggest payouts of its kind but M Callum said the costly Court proceedings could have been avoided altogether if the force had investigated her claims of as soon as she made them instead of what she describes as victim blaming West Midland’s police have never given an

Interview about the case but released this video statement over the past year we’ve made major progress on an action plan to address the serious issues within the employment tribunal many of which date back a number of years we cannot be any clearer there is no place in pleasing for misogynistic

Discriminatory or disrespectful behavior in an exclusive interview with this program before today’s hearing Miss Callum told us it was never about the money given everything you’ve been through do you feel like you’ve won no I haven’t won this case I feel like in a way I’ve lost my

Career but I can hold my head up high to say that I did everything I possibly could to make those changes one of the changes she fought for was the lack of body armor for women get on the floor despite the dangers that Firearms officers face women were

Told they’d have to make do with men’s ballistic armor When Miss Callum tried to complain she was told to wear a compression bra so how did you feel when you were going out on jobs wearing uniform that you felt wouldn’t protect you what I felt was unsafe knowing that

I might not come home to my two kids if I were shot that’s scary on one occasion she suffered a serious burn when a bullet casing got under a gap in the men’s vest she had to wear which was too big I’ve been second degree burned on

The back of my neck when bullet casings went down because of wearing male uniform Miss Callum also described a culture of racism and discrimination her case raising wider questions this tribunal has come at a time when the culture of policing nationally has been under scrutiny as

Never before at a time when trust in the police police has been under strain when Karen geds retired from West Midland’s police she was one of only 34 black women officers she says the Rebecca Callum case proves that the problems of misogyny and racism aren’t confined to

The met people think it’s specific to the Met because that’s where a lot of the noise happens but what then happens when it’s focused on one area you tend to neglect other areas as well and the police needs to hold a mirror up to themselves and think why did it have to

Come to this in recent months West Midland’s police was placed into special measures by inspectors following a series of failings including poor investigations the force told us female officers have now all been issued with kit which is right for them Rebecca Callum told us she feels the tribunal

Result is a Vindication of the truth Das reporting well I’m joined Now by Paul Odell who was Rebecca callum’s police Federation representative thanks very much for joining us first of all what you make of today um yeah it is a good result but unfortunately like Rebecca said she

Hasn’t won the case she’s lost everything she wanted to Aspire to be and that was to be you know police officer behind of ranks um and you know serve the community so she’s lost out in a in a big way really um but the result today kind of told the police

Organization which hits them hard when money is taken out of their pockets to actually get their um house into order I mean Rebecca callum’s case painted a really damning picture of a unit within the force that while she was clear there were many good officers she was also

Clear that there was a toxic culture running through it horrific examples of racism and sexism and when when she C became public public on that former colleagues then contacted us to say some felt she brought the case for money I mean was this is this still a force in

Denial this a force in denial she didn’t bring it for money at all um in fact she gave some of her own money back to the force when she wasn’t acting up to ask the force to buy the right clothing for the female officers so this is nothing

About money this is all about protecting those female officers that were far and few between in a specialist unit because that misogyny that she talked about was structural wasn’t it you had body armor potentially life-saving kit that didn’t work for women that’s right they were given out

Of used body armor that was found in the corners of of locker rooms that were dirty um I know for a fact the body armor that uh Becky was given he had to disinfect and wash it probably three or four times before she could even put it

On herself I mean just briefly if you would she said all of this could have been solved with a conversation yet as we know the force continued to fight her through the tribunal very rolent of the post office scand or huge amounts of money to keep fighting her through this tribunal what

Do you think that says about the leadership in the force it’s poor leadership there’s no need to be fighting because they already admitted liability to then employ a king’s Council and a queen’s Council as well and their for solicitors to to fight this at in the twoe trial back last year

In the summer when they’ve already admitted liability was beyond a joke really this is their own officer that they’re fighting who’s who has been treated badly just really really finally sorry to interrupt you but really quickly can the public trust this Force it’s in special measures now can the public trust this

Force there’s a lot of good police officers who are working hard and do a lot of good work in the community um it’s not about the it’s not about the police officers on on the street the the foot soldiers is about the leadership thank you so much for talking

To us today sorry to cut you off thanks very much

The former police firearms officer Rebecca Kalam has been awarded more than £820,000 in compensation – one of the biggest payouts of its kind – after she successfully sued West Midlands Police for sex discrimination, harrassment, and victimisation.

She told this programme in an exclusive interview last year about the misogyny and toxic behaviour she faced at work – claiming the force had failed to properly investigate it.