The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
The personal cost of standing up to police boys’ club
Earlier this month, four women told BBC Newsnight about allegations of a “boys’ club” culture at all levels of Police Scotland.
The quartet, who include a former assistant chief constable, described a culture of misogyny that failed to properly address their concerns.
They said other women, still working in the force, were too frightened to come forward.
Last May, Rhona Malone won nearly £1 million in compensation from Police Scotland after an employment tribunal found she was victimised when she raised concerns about sexism in the force.
Malone had been a police officer for eight years when she decided to join the firearms unit in Edinburgh.
“It was a huge challenge for any police officer, not just for a woman,” she told Newsnight.
At first it was “great” and the training was “amazing”, she said, but then she started to see some “horrific behaviour”.
When she challenged that behaviour, she was wrongly accused of throwing her utility belt with a loaded firearm.
The final straw was an email in 2018 from her senior officer which said two female firearms officers should not be working together when there were male staff on duty.
It added: “Other than the obvious differences in physical capacity, it makes more sense from a search, balance-of-testosterone perspective.”
Malone said it was not easy for her to put in a grievance.
“The minute you do that, you have a target on your back,” she said.
“It was like Russian roulette. Either put a grievance in and lose my career, or don’t put in the grievance and then I lose my career because I’m getting accused of throwing weapons, which didn’t happen.”
After a long, drawn-out process, she won her case and received substantial compensation, which was mostly swallowed up in legal costs.
Summing up her experience, she said: “Ultimately, it didn’t just take my career, it took my mental health as well. I’m really sad about that because I loved my job.”