£820,000 for gun cop forced to strip on training course
‘Made to act as a stooge’
A FORMER firearms officer who was forced to strip down to her underwear during a police training course has been awarded more than £820,000 after winning a sex discrimination case.
Rebecca Kalam also alleged that an officer pushed her neck down with his foot while she was doing press-ups. He went on to say: ‘Just because you have a t*** does not mean you can’t do a press-up’.
The 40-year- old, who retired after 15 years in West Midlands Police on medical grounds, was awarded £30,000 by the tribunal for sex harassment and discrimination in November.
Employment judge Christopher Camp ruled the former detective inspector should also be compensated for lost earnings and pension on the basis she would have retired as a superintendent at 60. At a hearing yesterday to determine those figures, a judge ordered West Midlands Police to pay Mrs Kalam a total of £820,720. The payout is one of the biggest of its kind.
West Midlands Police faces a substantial bill in legal costs but refused to disclose the amount.
The tribunal heard that, unlike male officers, Mrs Kalam was not given an easy trigger handgun and was told to wear a compression bra to fit into body armour designed for men.
In March 2012, Mrs Kalam was forced to act as a ‘stooge’ in a group training exercise and was ‘stripped down to her underwear’ so first aid could be given. The tribunal in Birmingham previously heard that she was forced to pose for a photoshoot when she was five months pregnant.
Mrs Kalam was also told she would not pass a training course if she did not agree to be a ‘poster girl’ for the unit, where she was one of seven women among 250 men. And speaking to Channel 4, Mrs Kalam, a mother of two, previously said she felt ‘unsafe’ in the job. Once, she suffered a second- degree burn to her neck and shoulder because she was wearing a man’s bullet-proof vest.
Scott Green, the force’s Deputy Chief Constable, said: ‘I am sorry that more was not done sooner to address the serious issues.’ Three officers are suspended and ten are in the disciplinary process.