Locker-room culture thrives among the force I left in 2020

The culture of toxic masculinity that the BBC’s Panorama investigation again exposed makes a mockery of everything the Metropolitan Police force is meant to stand for.

- SHABNAM CHAUDHRI

Watching the footage, the WhatsApp groups where police officers swap rape jokes, slurs and insults, the misogyny, what I thought was: “Here we go again.”

As the first female Muslim detective superintendent in the Met, I was proud of my 30-year career. This was despite my experiences with a few predominantly white middle-aged men who did everything to remove me from within the detective arena, so while challenging, my experiences were not the vile rhetoric shown by the BBC. In those days, there was “banter”, which I’m not proud to admit I accepted as the norm, brushing off comments like “You’re OK, you're just brown on the outside, but white on the inside.”

Even five years after leaving the force, I’m often asked, “Why is it always men?” Policing, on the whole, is a male-dominated profession, although the representation of women has improved significantly. The “job” attracts those who want to make a difference. Sadly, some know the power of the warrant card and take the opportunity to abuse their position while hiding in plain sight.