Four police officers have been dismissed for gross misconduct after they were heard mocking an alleged rape victim.
The shocking incident occurred after the woman reported the alleged crime to Bedfordshire police. The woman told a subsequent police misconduct hearing that during a nine-minute follow-up phone call to her report, she heard one police officer reading her victim statement out loud while other police officers laughed
According to The Daily Mail, the woman told the hearing, "What I heard was truly disgusting, disrespectful, and immoral. They were joking about my statement and making comments about 'I would have done it this way,' 'he proper stuck it up her arse,' and 'when I fuck a girl'."
She also said that officers made victim-blaming insinuations such as, "If I was getting raped, I wouldn’t have stuck his dick in my mouth half-heartedly."
Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said in a statement to Metro, "I have apologized to this remarkable and brave young lady and have continued to support her throughout the investigation. I would like to extend my apologies to her again for the anguish and distress this has caused."
"Victims should be at the heart of everything we do at Bedfordshire Police and we will not tolerate any attitude which undermines those values or damages the trust and confidence of those affected by crime," he added.
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