31 Jan Police must take action on ’rotten apples’ who undermine public confidence
POLICE forces need to take action against “rotten apples” and end a culture where racists and misogynists are able to operate for decades without being challenged, a former detective has said.
Shabnam Chaudhri told GB News: “They have to do a big churn out of the absolute rotten apples that sit within policing. Many have sat within policing for decades.
“Forces across England and Wales have actually woken up to the fact that it’s now time really, that they’ve got to take these matters seriously, not just brush them under the carpet.
“The criminals that operate within policing are having a real impact on trust and confidence on the wider communities.”
Asked about her own experiences during an interview during Breakfast with Isabel Webster and Eamonn Holmes, she said: “Let’s not pretend that these things haven’t been going on for a long time but we have to ask ourselves, what is it that actually went wrong?
“What now needs to be done is to ensure that these horrible people are not allowed into policing, because somehow they’re coming into policing, they don’t suddenly develop these mindsets.
“When they join, they do actually find that they bought a badge, which gives them far more power than they probably actually ever realise. And they use it completely to their advantage and actually, not to the good of the people.”
She said: “My experiences were different as I went throughout my service, there’s a mixed bag, you’ve got some absolutely fantastic, hardworking, dedicated, top top officers but you’ve also got those that are terrible.
“I worked with officers and I remember one particular one who was awful to me, he used to refer to me behind my back with the P word.
“And he’d tell other colleagues this, those colleagues were actually very good. They’d come and warn me.
“He then went on to be sacked for domestic abuse, actually, he was initially arrested for some violence and public order in a pub. He was let off for that but then it went much further and then a few years down the line, he was sacked.”
Ms Chaudhri said: “So these kinds of red flag behaviours are already there. They’re already embedded. These people are already toxic.
“You might not necessarily see it very openly, particularly not now things have changed in policing but it can be very covert, it can be very subtle.
She added: “The good thing is, I do know some good officers that help call it out, but there are far too many in policing that sit there in complicit silence, who are scared to speak out, I get that.
“But we cannot have the David Carricks and the Wayne Couzens’ of this world sitting in policing, abusing and violating their own colleagues and the wider public.”
