Source: British autistic woman.

Date received:  June 2023.

Details:

This incident spans nearly three years during which a victim of crime was mistreated by the Bedfordshire Police Force.

Summary of incident:

From the woman’s first communication with the Police Force, she made it very clear that she is unable to use a telephone and can only reliably communicate in a text-based format.

During the investigation of two crimes against the woman, one of which was the result of the former not being properly investigated, the Police force repeatedly asked the woman to phone people and also tried to use the telephone to contact her.

“A difficulty I often experience is people refusing to accept that I cannot use a telephone and then putting all of the responsibility for any matter that must be dealt with onto my mother. I strictly wanted to avoid this, in dealing with the Police in particular, but this was made completely impossible. The bigotry the Police display in refusing to accept that because they can use a telephone doesn’t mean everybody can use a telephone has no place in 21st Century society. Repeatedly, I felt I was being dealt with by people who hate me because I am not able to do everything they can do,” the woman has told us.

She believes she was a victim of discrimination by the Police force in a number of ways and that one or more officers displayed a particular prejudice and dislike for autistic people. Claiming to have been driven very nearly to suicide, the woman cut off all contact and ultimately submitted and could not carry on the complaints procedure, which she feels is designed to make people so upset and uncomfortable that they simply cannot proceed.

Not wishing to provide details of the entire series of events because she is still struggling desperately to cope after the trauma of fighting to receive fair treatment from the Police Force, she has simply said, of the wider experience, “Never expect the British Police Force to treat you fairly if they have made any kind of error or mistake. They will all circle the wagons and lie endlessly rather than admit any wrongdoing at all”.

Regarding their refusal to accommodate her disability, the woman said that officers tried to call her directly in response to emails that made clear her limitations, and then refused to answer any of her queries until an official complaint was submitted. Some wrongdoing was found as a part of this official complaint, but the actions in which the officer was instructed to answer her questions about her treatment and the criminal investigation were never fulfilled.

“The Force’s Professional Standards Department don’t care in the slightest, despite apparently being committed to honesty and integrity. I have written evidence of officers lying to me and about me, but the PSD avoids this issue by refusing to look at the evidence. They played a very confusing game of passing the buck to the IOPC, who told me very clearly that the PSD were responsible. It was like something from an old Monty Python sketch where they denied what was in plain sight and were willing to directly contradict themselves in single communications.”

The woman wants to pursue the matter for the sake of equality but found herself unable to continue in the face of bigotry, discrimination and brutal ignorance. She is confident she has a sound legal case against Bedfordshire Police Force but is also not well enough to take such action.

“They drove me so close to suicide and never provided any assistance at all to make it possible for me to complain despite my disability, even though they claim they will do that, on their website.”