Warning: This story contains disturbing details that may upset and disturb some readers. Discretion is advised.
Six current and former female police officers have filed a proposed class-action lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court, claiming discrimination and harassment based on gender.
The 25-page lawsuit names all 13 cities with municipal police forces in the province.
In the suit, Central Saanich police Const. Anne Piper claims she was “threatened to be penetrated with a service rifle by a male office.”
Former Delta police officer Helen Irvine alleges fellow officers drew a penis in her police notebook with the caption, “Next time it won’t be on a sticky note.”
Other allegations include an explicit video involving a woman engaged in a sexual act with a horse, routine jokes about oral sex and unwanted physical contact and invitations for sex with coworkers.
Another participant in the suit whose identity is protected by a publication ban survived a sexual assault by another Vancouver police officer, who was later convicted and jailed.
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“What ends up happening with someone like me is you’re left with two options: you quit your job or you kill yourself,” she told Global News.
The officers allege their complaints led to retaliation and that all of them suffered from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
“It has changed me,” Vancouver police Const. Anja Bergler said. “I think my whole family would agree.”
It remains unclear if the suit will be certified as a class action. That will be determined by a judge in the months ahead.
If it doesn’t, the six officers say they’ll move forward with a complaint to the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal.
Irvine called their legal action “bigger than us.”
“We are the tip of the iceberg, and we have a strength among us now that we can speak for everybody who can’t and there’s no way we’re stopping,” she said.
None of the allegations have been proven in court and a statement of defence has not been filed.
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