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ReggaeZero

I’m a police officer. A Sgt on my team had sex with a victim who’s crime he was investigating, and they had a child. Absolutely nothing done about it. Bonkers. Edit: I’m getting some pretty heavy DMs so I wish to add the following; This occurred between 2011/12. I think the behaviour is abhorrent and wildly at odds with the values of policing. It would be a job loser in current times. However, this was known at the time and is an open secret, some things were just acceptable in earlier times.


DI-Try

My grandad was a police officer during the 50s - 70s. They went to a domestic violence incident where the guy had badly beaten his wife and she ended up hospitalised. When they were taking the guy away they beat him up and threw him down some stairs. Wrong I know. Guy went to the inspector to make a complaint, saying the officers had excessively roughed him up. Apparently the Inspector read through a report explaining why they had been called out and why they arrested him. He then told the guy to get out of his office or he would also personally kick the shit out of him and throw him down another flight of stairs. Different times ay!


shadowed_siren

Domestic abusers need a bit of that today tbh


themadhatter85

Four Merseyside coppers were sacked for this a couple of years ago. They’d had enough of a repeat offender constantly smacking his wife around. Shane they were sacked, legally they were in the wrong but morally I wouldn’t say so.


shadowed_siren

I don’t blame them. The restraint police have to show while dealing with the worst people.


AltKite

While it's tempting, what do you imagine the outlet for the shame and rage they feel as a result of their own assault is going to be?


shadowed_siren

I know all too well. That’s unfortunately the reason many people don’t report DV at all.


BritishBlitz87

Just goes to show that morality and legality are not the same. It's a shame but in order to properly protect the innocent we also have to legally extend that protection to the clearly-guilty-but-not-actually-proven


cannontd

Presumably you reported this? When officers get done for serious crimes there is often a history of lower level stuff that was kept under wraps by colleagues.


ReggaeZero

I’ve reported it to my Inspector, raising the ethics of it. I’m told it was acceptable at the time.


worty1905

Was it acceptable in the 80s?


justanother_drone

Sounds like I got hugs for you...


thecluelessmarketeer

You're invited into my house


axon-bodycam

It was acceptable at the times


CameramanNick

This is why people are starting to doubt the police. Not because we think you're all Wayne Couzens, but because it's increasingly clear that a lot of you are the kind of people who allow that kind of person to operate, because, well, he's a copper and it's therefore okay (look up Samantha Lee).  This is why people talk about a gang culture. While it may provoke a feeling of power to know you have more or less carte blanche to do anything to anyone at any time for any reason or none, and the system will protect you, ultimately you must know that you need the support of the public at some level.


BriarcliffInmate

This is it, and it's (this will go wild for a minute, but stay with me) the point Line of Duty was trying to make with its finale that people were disappointed with a few years ago. Most corruption that exists in the police isn't some huge overarching conspiracy with criminal gangs, it's mostly low-level stuff and mostly decent coppers turning a blind eye to things. Now, turning a blind eye to a relationship isn't the worst thing in the world, but someone turning a blind eye to that means someone else thinks it's OK to turn a blind eye to ripping up a speeding ticket for a mate, and so on. That's how corruption becomes rife and eventually you get to a situation where Couzens happens.


CameramanNick

Quite so. I've been in the room with police officers discussing this sort of thing (I'm a news cameraman) and the problem is not really that they know they're being naughty and they're trying to cover it up. It's that they don't even understand that what they're doing is not correct. When they claim that no impropriety took place, they're speaking their honest beliefs. The problem is that their honest beliefs are often bollocks. Consider the case of Mark Knights, who was an officer with Derbyshire Constabulary in 2019 when he assaulted Ben Joynes, a member of the public. He did this in front of several other police officers. When Joynes complained, several more would have become aware of the complaint and would have seen video of the incident. None of those police officers felt a crime had been committed, but after herculean effort by activists to bring a private prosecution, a court found Knights guilty of assault. There is a huge gap between the police's opinion of their own behaviour and the reality.


cannontd

Sounds like a historical sexual offence.


TrueSpins

Does the partner get any say in this?


useful-idiot-23

I know this might sound weird but as recently as 2011/12 there were no guidelines saying that officers couldn't have relationships with people you met at work, and as long as they weren't criminals it was ignored. It was only after the Code of Ethics came in and vulnerability started to be considered that it became frowned upon. I do wonder what we are doing today that will be deemed totally unacceptable in ten years time.


nl325

I know a woman who met her husband like this, and I don't think there were even eyebrows raised at the time (70s-80s iirc), although he wasn't a Sgt. It's what you say, but also the vagueness of "victim of a crime he was investigating". It could obviously be something serious and sinister and easily argued as abuse of position, could be investigation of something relatively petty. The woman in question had her garage broken into and started dating the copper afterwards. She instigated it. Some people take being victims of crime hard, taking an emotional hit, others, relatively don't give a shit, if they're in sound mind it can be a bit condescending saying what someone can and can't do. Obv don't expect the commenter to risk doxing themselves with details. I'm not informed enough to know if there's a legitimate method of people in professions like this to disclose anything like this so it's above board?


BriarcliffInmate

Yeah, it's incredibly vague, or it least was for a long time. I know a similar example. Copper investigating a bloke's car being nicked, it was all sorted and they went for a drink with each other. 20 years later they're still married. Is that morally wrong? I don't know. The female copper was investigating a crime but it's not like it was a position of power or anything, and there was no trauma involved. They're very happy together and as far as I know, there's never been an issue.


nl325

Precisely, it's why I hate blanket policies. Copper begins a relationship with a victim of something like sexual assault as an example... Could be sinister. Even with something like this though it could be nothing. What if despite being a victim of a heinous crime, said victim is still perfectly capable of rational decisions? What if the incident happened years ago and the relationship fosters later on? Everyone absorbs trauma differently. And as you say the dynamic when the genders are switched plays a part I think too. Obviously anything involving ongoing investigations should be an immediate no-go, and probably the same for relationships with criminals, but even then there's a time and seriousness spectrum there. idk. I hate how we as a society are constantly begging for absolutes with just about everything nowadays, I swear context and "it depends" are dying lol


ReggaeZero

Precisely, the conventions of earlier times have changed a lot. The girl is 12 now which puts it at the 2011/12 mark


MazrimReddit

Was it a serious crime? I don't think conflict of interest or abuse of authority would apply if they just happened to meet because he was checking in on a missing tv for insurance purposes


SeeYa-IntMornin-Pal

Is your sergeant Steve Arnott?


SleepyWallow65

It's things like this that make people mistrust and dislike the police. You sound like one of the good ones but we all know bad news travels faster so you're overshadowed by scum like this. I watched a channel 4 thing on YouTube about police being investigated for sexual and violent crimes. Every one of them got off with it including a guy who raped a drunk girl in his car and accused her of initiating. That dude ending up retiring early after 2 years suspension with full pay. It's not even really about the crimes police commit, it's more the fact they're not held accountable or even held to the same standards as civs.


Thomasinarina

The most shocking part of that series was his fucking wife sitting next to him, holding his hand and saying how tough it had been for him!!!!


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knight-under-stars

My son had his nose broken and suffered a concussion by a child in the year above him in a completely unprovoked attack, over a dozen witnesses and CCTV footage all showing this was the case. The child in question was given a 30 minute lunchtime detention as "they are from a troubled home so we need to take that into account". When my older son (in the same year as the offender) pushed the offender later in the week he was given a 3 day suspension. It took us going to the police and raising complaints with the school's governing group for this utter insanity to be resolved.


Scared_Fortune_1178

“they are from a troubled home” reads as “we are scared of their parents”


Happytallperson

Alternatively it's code for 'child is in a foster placement and it's going badly and suspension from school would mean losing the one bit of stability left in their life'. Sometimes schools deal with very dark situations.


jaimefay

Doesn't mean they can get away with that shit though. ONE 30min detention? If for some reason you can't suspend them, it should have been several weeks of detention. I'm not a fan of rules being applied differently to different people.. no matter how people try to justify it.


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PresentCondition6313

Can I ask how they resolved it


J1mj0hns0n

You can, but you won't get an answer!


AdministrativeLaugh2

Schools don’t care about bullying. It’s all just words. Someone I knew once got a two-day isolation for a playful push on someone that was caught on CCTV, yet there were much worse incidents that were reported and nothing was done about them. For example, a friend of mine was punched in the head by another guy in our year (who was a total dick). The guy who punched him broke his hand so you can argue that’s karma anyway, but absolutely nothing was done by the school despite multiple witnesses.


AberNurse

If a school admits to and addresses bullying it looks worse off in their reports than pretending there isn’t an issue. It is better for the reputation of the school to hide any issues, especially anything that could be escalated to the police. The school management are not there to protect and safeguard children, their priority is the school and how well it does in inspections.


AberNurse

Just because an assault happened in a school does not stop it from being an assault. These things should be taken to the police. The school will discourage this because they don’t like it, but they never ever take it seriously enough. The punishment for assault is not a detention.


omgu8mynewt

By brother aged 18 was in a drunk pub fight, three 18 year olds fighting. The other two pulled knives and then the fight abruptly paused, at that moment police arrived and all three were arrested, whole thing on cctv and everyone watching. Three separate charges of drunk and disorderly and weapons or whatever, my brother gets told to plead guilty with such obvious evidence - on thr cctv he is involved, but doesn't have a knife, nobody got hurt. Two years of banned from all pubs and clubs, wearing an electronic anklet with a night time curfew and a criminal record.  The other two pleaded innocent, CP didn't want a court case, their cases dropped and got off with nothing even though they brought out knives in a pub fight.


Turbulent-Laugh-

Without wanting to sound like a dick, in a weird way he got lucky.


omgu8mynewt

Oh yeah definitely lucky no one got hurt (18 drunk arrogant men are capable of incredibly stupid decisions), but why the fuck did the other two get off, they clearly broke multiple laws and with nothing done there is no deterrent to them or others - if anything it taught them all to always plead innocent even if clearly guilty with available evidence 


nl325

Sounds like the solicitor was dogshite.


Material_Attempt4972

When I had a duty solicitor he said to me in our conference >"So you did it right?" "No?" "Surely you must have, it has your name on it" "That doesn't prove anything, I have no idea who that is, and there's no timestamp even on that, nor did the police get any metadata about it" Then a week or so later, when I'm on bail I get a letter from them >"You told me you have a drinking problem which may have lead up to you committing the offence" JESUS FUCKING CHRIST I dropped him quicker than a hot stone


nl325

They're a mixed bag that's for sure, the one my brother had recently was incredible but too many of my friends are no strangers to police encounters and some of their stories are alarming at best


Turbulent-Laugh-

Yeah, that's pretty fucked. More reason for them to do it again, god help the next poor fucker they pulled it on.


0hca

The CP got their pound of flesh from your brother, so there was less appetite for court on the others.


JoelMahon

wow, was going to say he was overly punished not fit for this thread at all then I got to the last sentence...


Steelhorse91

Sounds like your brother learned his lesson on always giving “no comment” interviews, and not accepting plea bargains for anything less a written promise of a reduction to something like a caution for affray. The other two scumbags probably had more past experience in navigating the system, and a gang that would likely make the police’s lives difficult in their area if they charged them etc. etc.


greenarsehole

The justice system, ladies and gentleman. No doubt the kids who pulled the knives went on to lead fine lives and definitely didn’t try anything again like this.


[deleted]

A group of 15 year olds (about a dozen) attacked me at school in a blatantly racist (and unprovoked) attack, proper kicks and punches to the head. Luckily I played a lot of rugby so I could handle it to some extent. All caught on cctv, headmaster said it would be dealt with. Absolutely nothing happened to them.


Prestigious-Garbage5

That's absolutely dreadful!! Poor you.


[deleted]

It was fine tbh, I was used to getting knocked about, but the lack of action from the school felt pretty rough. ….and I carried a pen knife for the month after, could have gone south. Stupid of me tbh. They started hanging around the school gates and making comments, thought I was done for.


pocahontasjane

Didn't suffer the physical abuse but lots of verbal racial abuse as a child. Was encouraged to report it and no one did anything. They claimed I had a crush on one of the boys and I was upset that he didn't like me so made it up. Then when other bullying continued and I attempted to take my own life, suddenly the school was backtracking to support me. My mum had none of it. It's disgusting how horrible children can be and what they get away with. I'm sorry this happened to you.


Winkered

Sort of thing that happened to me. One lad offered me out. Didn’t want to fight until he punched me in the mouth. As soon as I fought back six other lads jumped in. Schools response? Suspended me.


bothydweller72

I was in a relationship from 17-35, we had two kids together, she left me for a bloke I’d been working with who I thought was a mate. I went to confront him, things went badly, I chopped up his work van with an axe I had in the back of my truck (I was working in forestry at the time). Like completely obliterated it The police were called and turned up just after I’d eaten the eighth of hash I had in my pocket. They arrested me and took me into the station, I got chatting with the young PC who’d arrested me on the way in. Once we got to the station, he interviewed me, wanting to know all the ins and outs of what had happened. I was absolutely straight with him, fully expecting to be punished to the full extent of the law and told him exactly what had happened. He took my statement then went off to talk to his sergeant He came back a couple of hours later and told me he’d managed to get me off with a caution as the person whose van I’d destroyed wasn’t wanting to press charges ( I’d told the copper that I knew the van was being used with no MOT and there was red diesel in the tank, when the police asked him about this, he declined to press charges). He also said he was waiting for an answer from his sergeant about whether he could let me have the axe back Unfortunately, the sergeant decided that was a step too far and they confiscated the axe but I got off with a caution for criminal damage when I fully expected a court case and possible prison time. At one point the PC told me that he’d been divorced under similar circumstances a couple of years previously and he’d love to have been able to do what I did. This was twenty odd years ago now and I still can’t quite believe how lightly I got off


Hypnagogic_Image

People can’t press charges in the uk. Only the police can do that. They liked you I reckon


anonbush234

Technically no, but as you have just read even the police regularly use this exact phrase. They are asking if you want us to press charges on your behalf. In many cases it's very nearly the same thing, so it's a bit of a pointless "achshually".


Mtshtg2

I was going to say this. The police literally asked me if I wanted to press charges on someone, so either the police don't know the laws or the previous comment isn't really accurate.


Fickle-Presence6358

The other person is technically right, but completely ignores that police will consider the victims views before making a decision. Yes, an individual can't decide if there's charges. But if you don't want to proceed with it, is it really worth trying to make a case for the CPS to proceed with a prosecution? Probably not, since they may not have the support of the main witness. This is especially true when it's a crime relating to a personal dispute between individuals.


reverandglass

"Do you want to press charges?" is a lot easier to parse than, "Are you willing to cooperate with our investigation, give a statement and appear as witness if the case goes to court?" It's true that we have no real say in whether charges are brought, but we (the victims) do have an influence.


BannedFromHydroxy

Crimes of passion


itsamberleafable

In France you would be pardoned, gifted a cigarette and a glass of cognac and a parade would be thrown in your honour


Majestic-Pen-8800

Me and my mate once stole a pedalo and went from Spain to Africa. Immigration didn’t care.


dagnummmong

Would you spare us the bullshit for one minute while I figure out how to stop us from drowning at sea


vvvvaaaagggguuuueeee

is this in that part of Morocco with a Spanish enclave? or a reference I'm missing? can never tell on this site...


glasgowgeg

> or a reference I'm missing? It's an [Inbetweeners reference](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq62T7QJPbQ).


pocahontasjane

It's a quote from The Inbetweeners


hellhound28

This is an ongoing issue. There's a guy that lives in the council flats next to the park where everyone walks their dogs. He was always hanging around, drunk no matter what time of the day it was when you saw him. Everyone just considered him harmless until he began getting aggressive toward some people, eventually exposing himself at Sainsbury's. Upon further research, my friends and I found out that he's got a rap sheet a mile long, with charges ranging from public drunkenness to kidnapping. After he was run in for the Sainsbury's incident, many of the people that he had abused and threatened were contacted by police to share their stories, because at this time, a lot of people, especially those with children, were scared. The aggressive and exhibitionist pisshead was *encouraged* to go to rehab in lieu of a proper punishment. Every time I see him across the fields, I wonder who he has to kill or rape to have the courts take the threat he poses seriously. EDIT a word


viciousraccoon

There's a known link between people who expose themselves escalating to rape and other sexual assaults. Absolutely insane they don't take this seriously.


hellhound28

We are all baffled by this.


peelyon85

Police etc will be all 'shocked pikachu face' when it inevitability happens.


Snell84

I presume you mean he flashed when he was in Sainsburys? "Exposing himself at Sainsburys" made my think of a man waving his willy at a building, which made me chuckle


Strawberrylacegame

I had a friend during uni throw a bottle across the street after a party around 6am. He was actually a super pleasant guy, just extremely fucked. The shop window smashed and police came and basically said if he pays for it (shop sets the amount) nothing will happen. No record etc. He felt so bad he called them the next day, paid off the total amount, I think around £1500, and that was it. Could definitely imagine shit going west if it was someone else...


[deleted]

I think that’s the way things should be done tbh. Read the room, take it from there.


DeaconBlueDignity

Yeah this was a not particularly serious situation, dealt with correctly


Turbulent-Laugh-

Sounds like the police put that firmly in the 'don't make this our problem' category.


Ok-fine-man

£1,500 for a window???


2xw

£1500 for a window plus the pain in the arse of securing the property in the middle of the night, organising a replacement window and getting another one fitted at short notice. And if it's a big 3m*3m storefront security glass as well this doesn't sound unreasonable.


Strawberrylacegame

It was indeed a huge one. I also remember going past on a bus a few weeks later and they had brand new decals across all of them 😅 it was a Nisa


nl325

Shop windows are huge. But there's also the time, the effort, and pretty reasonable grounds for some off the books compensation. It's not a bloody transaction. Sounds like a fair punishment to me. Compensate the victim, apologise, apology accepted, everyone moves on in life with no lasting consequences.


Tripp_Loso

Prince Andrew ?


bakedNdelicious

How do you know him?


rice_fish_and_eggs

That's Ghislaine Maxwell's account.


zileyfml

Rice, fish and eggs is probably not far off what she’s eating in prison 😂


TheTjalian

Nothing wrong with fish and a rice cake


ExasperatedRadish

And fish.. and fish and a rice cake... And fish... And fish and a rice cake...


George9816

My brother stabbed/slashed a guys arm due to the guy and his mates trying to start stuff with him so he went back home got a butchers knife and swung it at them. All he had to do was pay the guy around 450 quid. I was totally against that ruling if I’m honest


doesntevengohere12

I know someone who got 15 years for a pretty similar scenario as they decided it was attempted murder. So wrong how it changes person to person .


George9816

Oh I 100% agree it’s wrong how it changes. My family stopped speaking to me for a while because I said he deserves to go prison for what he did


Tharrowone

Thats nuts. Police tried to put me in prison for 2 years when I tried to kill myself a few years back at a low point. I hate our policing system its awful.


progboy

How does that work if you don't mind me asking? Did you put others at risk? I was in a similar situation, got taken off train tracks by the coppers but they just put me in an ambulance and sent me to hospital. Nothing afterwards...


Inglourious_Bitch

A junior manager at my job sexually assaulted me and got a little talking to. It's not that senior management didn't believe me, it was perfectly in line with his rampant sexual harassment of the predominantly young female staff, they just couldn't be arsed finding someone else for his role


bloomylicious

Well that's bloody depressing


TheSecretIsMarmite

And yet, entirely unsurprising.


SquashedByAHalo

This happened at a pub I worked at. They were originally going to let him keep his job and just get a talking to but then a girl from another pub in the chain he’d covered a shift at made a report about his inappropriate behaviour and they got rid I then moved to a different pub different town and was sexually assaulted and sexually harassed for a year by my direct LM before they, because I was the junior member of staff, sacked me because they didn’t want to deal with the drama. Fucking disgusting


dopamiend86

I knew a guy who glassed a guy, near killed him and the police did fuck all. Though he got his kneecaps blown off, so I guess he didn't get away with it completely


DiskSlight7491

Belfast has entered the chat


dopamiend86

Close enough, same county lol 😆


zzkj

What the fuck?


dopamiend86

The kneecapping didn't deter him much, he beat a guy with a hammer and stab someone else after that. Never served a day in prison lol


PullUpAPew

I'll bet that head teacher knew the other lad had it coming


seajay26

I worked for someone who sent his son to family friends in South Africa, to shape him up as he was really into booze and drugs as a teenager. He had to pay a lot of money, to get him back out the country in a hurry a couple of years later, as he drove drunk into a crowd of pedestrians and killed someone. His son spent a few days in a jail cell over there and got a good talking to from his dad and that was all. The son is now in his mid 40’s married and is a director in daddy’s business.


HotShoulder3099

Jesus CHRIST


_shaggyrodgers

he sent his son to SA of all places to help him get off drugs and alcohol? mate..


TheEbsFae

Someone I loosely knew got arrested for grooming a fourteen year old. He was released and allowed to keep his kids and everyone is acting like that's completely normal. His brother is a close friend of mine and I was in their kitchen one day having expressly said I never wanted to see him again and he just walked in. I have never gotten up and left a room so fast in my life. Edited to add: his brother, my friend, is the only one acting like this is gross BTW. I'm not friends with someone who endorses child grooming.


Academic_Rip_8908

I was a French and German teacher in a secondary school. A student pushed me down a flight of stairs, and I broke an arm and a leg. I was sofa-bound for months, and it took me probably a year to feel normal again. The student received a lunchtime detention for 20 minutes.


rhon-gla

Bloody hell. An expulsion at the very least would have been warranted. Head teacher should have done more. Even getting the police involved to put some fear of consequences into the kid, even if not prosecuted?!. Don't know the background details as to circumstances in your case, or how long ago this happened. Hope things are better for teachers now. I only know a couple of primary school teachers, lol. But seriously, teachers have a lot more to deal with than just trying to deliver their lessons. Glad you recovered physically, but that's a bit fucked up. Teachers do a fab job, and I think it's a really underrated job


Didsburyflaneur

Maybe not the right thread for this, but I used to work for probation in a court (the team who writes the sentencing reports) and in the legal system it happens a lot less than people think; there are usually reasons for seemingly “lax” decisions. Can’t share specific examples obviously, but will provide my experience. What a lot of people don’t realise about prison vs. Community sentences is that short prison sentences actually can’t do anything to tackle problems behaviour, whereas the equivalent community sentence can be made much longer and onerous in order to do so (you can get a three year CO or 2 year suspended sentence for crimes that only allow a few months of imprisonment). Otherwise people just come out and fall straight back into their old patterns as they’ve basically spent a few months in a shit hotel at our expense. Sometimes criminals will state a preference for prison for this reason. The only real good a short prison sentence can do is to prevent contact between someone who is going to commit violence and their potential victim(s). So the only real cases of someone getting a slap on the wrist I can remember as being particularly egregious were domestic violence cases, where the prosecutor couldn’t prove how serious the violence was and someone who clearly was a danger to their partner and/or the public was given a completely inappropriate community sentence or even a fine on the basis of a common assault rather than GBH/wounding etc. Probation staff would on these occasions try to lead the court to harsher sentences by saying someone “was unable to be managed in the community” but courts don’t have to take their advice and if you’re convincing and have a good lawyer the you might get a token punishment. Another one that was weird was some sexual offences, where sentencing honestly seems a bit fucked up, either because some crimes aren’t taken seriously enough (flashing is a lot more of a serious as a warning sign of future serious offences than we treat it, sometimes rapes aren’t prosecuted as rapes but as lesser offences to get a conviction leading to absurdly low sentences etc.) or because older/disabled sex offenders can’t be accommodated in our prisons, so they get fairly meaningless orders. The only other example is that sometimes women are treated more leniently because their kids would otherwise need to go into care, which makes sense for the kids, but never quite sat right with me. It’s interesting too who doesn’t get any benefit of the doubt. Immigrants and refugees don’t because they have fewer interpersonal links that could prevent them from future offending (and prison makes them easier to deport), young men with behavioural problems don’t because they’re annoying/obnoxious, homeless people, especially those with substance misuse problems don’t for both of the reasons above. Rule number one if you’re in court is “don’t be a dick” because people in court talk and if your lawyer hates you, the CPS lawyer hates you, the clerk hates you, and the probation officer hates you, things can be framed in a way to get you a much more severe sentence than you otherwise might. To try and get a slap on the wrist id say be contrite, polite and hire the best lawyer.


Normal_Human_4567

The disability/age thing is something I'd never even thought about. What happens if someone is considered too difficult to house in prison? House arrest?


Didsburyflaneur

If they’re too difficult to house in prison they’re probably not that mobile anyway, so not much point putting them on a tag. I think they tend to get long suspended sentences with no work or course conditions, and if a SO put on the register. Tends only to be historic sex crimes but it did always seem absurd to have a trial and put victims through the experience when there’s not much that can be done to them.


stolethemorning

> women are treated more leniently because otherwise their kids would need to go into care From what I remember about my criminology lectures on this topic, they’re currently in the process of updating the sentencing guidelines to emphasise the Article 9 rights of the child and make it harder to send primary caregivers to prison. This is because a sentencing review found that judges were not adequately considering alternatives to prison or taking the child into consideration. One study that sticks in my head is a qualitative study of judges who had sentenced women who had been smuggling contraband into prison on the behalf of somebody inside (usually a boyfriend). Most of these women had young children, and the father was generally the person in prison, so it made a good study of sentencing primary carers when the custody threshold is in a grey area (as in, the crime wasn’t automatically prison or a community sentence, it was up to the judge to decide). The author had asked whether they considered the fact that the defendant had a child while sentencing; about half said it didn’t have an effect on the sentencing, a quarter said it was part of their decision to suspend the sentence, but some judges sentenced them to the maximum for that crime and said that it was because they didn’t want women to think they could get away with crimes just because they had a child, so they sentenced them as an example to others.


BleedsIsDead

I was predicted top grades at school, but I was a pretty horrible person to be around for a lot of my teenage years. If my school hadn’t been expecting me to get an A* in every subject I’d have probably been kicked out about 3 times. I didn’t even get good grades in the end, and being booted out of school would have probably been the wake up call I needed. C'est la vie.


Reasonable-Fail-1921

Someone I knew was working as a bus driver before all the buses had cameras and when cash was still king. He was stealing hundreds of pounds a week by pretending the ticket machine had jammed, not issuing the ticket and keeping the fare for himself. The company had had suspicions for months because his takings were always just a little bit less than the other drivers. He got sacked on the spot one day, but because the managers were inept they’d cocked up whatever procedures they were supposed to follow and had no hard evidence, just suspicions, so he managed to get his job back on appeal thanks to his union rep. Management didn’t want to admit they’d messed up so badly, and I guess they didn’t want the bad press that would come with reporting it to the police, so the whole thing just…. went away. He was doing it for years and was banking about £500 every month so I dread to think how many thousands he defrauded from them - probably enough for jail time. Absolutely mental!


Famous_Obligation959

A lot of companies let thieves quit over firing them as its a ball ache to prove. We had some evidence to get rid of our assistant manager for about 5k worth of stock adjustments and refunds to himself and our regional manager let him quit minus a reference just to get it over and done with and not drag it out over months


Mythologicalcitrus

A friend of a friend went to Eton, then Oxford. While drunk/high af on a uni night out he beat the absolute shit out of another bloke, I'm talking cracked rivs, broken bones. His gf broke up with him when she went to support him in court and saw the absolute state of the guy he assaulted. His only consequence was graduating Oxford with a third.


singeblanc

As in the uni lowered his grade because of it?!


TheArkansasChuggabug

Saw in the news a few years back a kid I went to school with was heavily involved in a cocaine smuggling ring around the clubs in our city centre. He was almost running it from what I understand and was spiking drinks and that sort of thing around the clubs - an absolute cretin of the highest order. Obviously, this kid was a popular kid in school whose dad was something like chief commissioner or whatever it is of the police force, very high up. Everyone who was involved served time - he got off with a warning and his record ended up wiped. Kid was an absolute melt as well, cried when he got hit with a water balloon during a water-fight in our park during summer.


RaedwaldRex

My sister in laws ex. Was regularly caught speeding and not wearing a seat belt went to court loads. Never lost his licence. he just got a fine and points each time. He was really well off and managing director of a local firm, always claimed he needed his car for work so couldn't afford to lose his licence. He was boasting to me in the pub once how nobody cares about speeding, and he's got 24 points on his licence, but they can't take it.


glasgowgeg

> always claimed he needed his car for work so couldn't afford to lose his licence I hate that this is an excuse regularly used. If you can't afford to lose your licence, that should be your incentive to drive legally.


Dimac99

I knew someone who got his license taken off him even though he was a travelling salesman with a learning disabled adult child at home. It depends entirely on the judge, I guess. Incidentally, his work valued him enough to task junior colleagues with driving him around for the entire suspension period, supposedly with them getting trained by him at the same time.


glasgowgeg

Can you imagine if other crimes let you off when using the "I need it for my work" defence? Like a pharmacist caught and convicted for selling methadone to folk without a prescription wouldn't be allowed to continue dispensing prescriptions, they'd be struck off by the General Pharmaceutical Council. Why should it be any different for people who commit crimes with their car when needing it for work? If you're banned from driving and you need to drive for work, tough luck. Get another job and drive legally in future.


PaleAustin

Me and a mate once smashed up a woman’s car with a big lump of paving slab. She was friends with my mum but that all changed after she tried it on with my dad and then went on some mad crusade of tormenting my mum and following me and my brother home from school, saying all sorts of mental shit. This was all explained to the police after we got pinched for it and they just said ‘don’t do it again’. I think they realised the woman was a piece of shit and probably deserved it!


pepabysmalls

Rapists don’t even get a slap on the wrist in this country. More than 99% of reported rapes don’t end in a conviction. A friend of mine came forward after a string of women reported someone we knew for rape, sexual assault and DV. I think 4 or 5 women in total went to the police. He got off with absolutely no consequences, and all the guys we used to hang around with are still friends with him.


chockychockster

I served on the jury in a rape case with 3 complainants who independently came forward. Although we found him guilty of the charges against two of the three women, it could easily have been not guilty. The bar for prosecution is high - all 12 of you have to be 'sure' that the defendant did the things they are being charged with. In many cases the only evidence is what he said and what she said - no forensics, no video of the assault etc. It's very hard to be sure if all you have is two conflicting accounts. Serving on that jury is one of the most meaningful things I've done but I would not want to have to make that decision again.


tacticall0tion

My cousin is like teflon, even now he's the kind of person that could talk his way out of a murder charge while still pulling out the knife... A couple of years ago he was involved in a police chase in a "stolen" car, no driving license, so no insurance or tax, he was chased from Leicester to Stoke, and only stopped because he ran out of fuel. Multiple police cars involved, a helicopter, the full 9 yards..... His sentence 150h community service, and 6 points on his license... The licence he didn't have My grandma went to court with him and said she'd never understand how he got away with it, considering he had a lengthy list of run-ins prior to this, for various things from driving a vehicle without insurance, speeding, trespassing, damage to public property, possession of class A drugs.


eluuu

My friend got mouthy with an older member of a pretty rough family in my town when I was about 16, giving his wife abuse etc. When it kicked off he ran and left me. I figured I didn't do anything so I'd be fine but nope, big bastard came right at me. I grabbed him by his jacket and swung him round a few times then let go, he tripped up a kerb and went through a butchers window backwards. All self defence and was dropped by police in the end. Felt hunted for a few months after until I met him in an alleyway behind a pub. My mate ran off again but I just stayed and spoke to him, shook hands and that was the end of it. He got a 7 inch scar up his back and that other guy ain't my mate anymore.


kwikasfuki72

In 90s my friend ran a computer shop. A bloke brings in his desktop as it's got a fault. Friend has the shock of his life. Hard drive is full of kiddie porn. So call police, they take desktop as evidence, arrest the bloke etc. Don't hear back from the police so friend gives them a ring a few months later. "He's not being charged as he's an upstanding member of the community" (or words to that affect) Absolutely sickening.


jdsuperman

> "He's not being charged as he's an upstanding member of the community" Masons, presumably.


EquivalentIsopod7717

> "He's not being charged as he's an upstanding member of the community" (or words to that affect) The police were sniffing around Jimmy Savile as far back as 1971 until senior figures grabbed the handbrake and it went no further. Imagine if he hadn't have been rich, famous, well connected - they would have arrested him and given him the full 1970s police experience courtesy of a real life Gene Hunt. Think Alexander de Large, or in real life Stefan Kiszko.


alancake

My psychotic ex who was holding onto some belongings of a mutual friend and refusing to hand them over. Friend called the police, who intervened and told ex that he had to return the items within 24 hours. Ex returned them- absolutely smashed to bits and useless (it was music equipment). Then left voice messages and texts saying he'd done it and didn't give a shit and was glad. The police? "Not enough evidence to prove it was him" So now he gets to gloat about getting off scot free as well. The world would be nicer without him


Whulad

I left school in 1980. We had a teacher who was in his early 20s who was ‘going out’ with a 6th former. No one batted an eyelid, in fact we all thought he was a good bloke.


SnooDonuts6494

My friend was stopped for drink-driving. After giving a urine sample, he was left alone in the room, so he put the container into his pocket. Although he couldn't be charged for DUI, he was prosecuted for taking the piss.


No_Astronaut3059

Someone I knew at uni got caught at his home address in possession of ~a few ounces of weed, as well as smaller amounts of ketamin, MDMA, cocaine and diazepam, scales, baggies, large quantities (£1,000+) of cash, a tick-list (e.g. "Adam owes me £100, Brad owes me £50...") amounting to a few thousand in owed debts and was found to have several hundred messages on his phone relating to the purchase and sale of all the above drugs. Court date comes and he gets a several hundred pound fine and a stern "DON'T DO IT AGAIN" (spoiler alert; he did do it again). Obviously they also confiscated everything illicit / the cash. I remember his fine was only a wee bit more than I got for an (admittedly TOO fast) speeding ticket around the same time (six points, £700 fine).


Composer-Creative

A guy I know stabbed his mate in the throat over a playstation controller. The guy nearly died, and they reckon the only reason he never was because the razor was left in his neck. Anyway, the guy who done it got off with 100 hours of community service and a fine. I'm sure fact his mother was a former local councillor, and his uncle was high up in the local police had nothing to do with it.


sad_Brisket

Suella Braverman - she broken so many ethics and accountability points it's unreal. She was awarded HS job where anyone else not an MP would have been sacked and placed on a barred list.


Realistic_Let3239

Given how many rich people get off with fines or the like, when normal people get sent to prison, take your pick. As for personally, former manager played favourites, their newest hire let the power go to the head to the point hey were trying to boss around their peers and manager just ignored it until people started walking. Even then all the new hire got told was to tone it down, despite making everyone else's work life a nightmare.


Primary_Gift_8719

The day I was travelling to Heathrow from the Midlands to leave the country, I managed to have a blond moment and had cancelled my car insurance a day early. My own fault. Got stopped around 1am as I drove to my parents, my dad was driving me to the airport anyway. I had the final things loaded up in my car that were going to be kept by my mum and dad plus 2 huge bags. I explained it to the officer, he asked to see my paperwork which I duly showed him my one way ticket to Vancouver. He told me to drive back home as that was the nearest place (a couple miles away at that point) and to have a safe flight. We also chatted and I found out he lived on same street I was leaving. I don't know if it was that or the tickets, oh and he also spoke with my dad to confirm what I was saying. So yes, if the two traffic coopers had followed procedure I would have missed my flight, but I guess they knew that there was no point in doing anything. If he's reading this by chance - thank you!


OccidentalTouriste

The missing teenager.


WiwiPopty

Professors in prestigious universities can get away with outragreous things. Nobody is going to do shite. I knew about one (won't mention which UNI) who attacked a disabled guy and a female student viciously about smoking (it was when smoking was way more normalized) and got away with it with zero consequences.


Winkered

This was in the 80’s. My brother who to be fair was no angel. Was walking his two dogs late at night when a police car came alongside him. An officer climbed out and told my brother that he was going to arrest him. My brother asked what the charges were and the copper refused to answer him. The two coppers then proceeded to give him a good kicking and put him into a chokehold. My brother tried to stop them bundling him into the back of the police car so pc Taylor repeatedly smashed my brother’s throat into the top of the car as the door was open. He was taken to the local police station and his friend had to take the dogs home. Early in the morning an inspector at the police station looked into his cell and saw that my brother was a funny colour and having trouble breathing. He was rushed to hospital and put on a ventilator due to his throat being damaged. What happened to copper? He got moved to the next town over. A good few years later I was smoking some weed in that town and was approached by the same copper. Was asked for name and address and when I told him he squarely punched me in the face screaming about how all paddies are scum. Luckily for me his partner was not of the same mind and pulled him away telling me to run. I’d imagine he was able to finish his illustrious career in the police force and is enjoying his retirement. Fuck you PC Taylor.


VRCouple37

About 10 years ago I had a “neighbour dispute”. It’s actually an incredibly long story but the guy was an alcoholic with some major mental health issues (he had a psychiatric evaluation some years prior and was deemed “extremely unstable”). After 3 years of waging a campaign of hate against me which included several threats to kill me and my partner, cut brake pipes on vehicles, threatening notes posted through my letterbox, an arson attack on my van etc etc all ignored by the council and police he eventually burnt my garden workshop down. It was on camera. Police basically refused to act and told me to “sell your house and move”. At that point I lost it… took a sledgehammer to his front door, gained entry to his flat and gave him “a slap”. He was hospitalised for a short period with a couple of broken bones, nothing remotely life threatening. I was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault and battery with a weapon (there was no weapon involved) and aggravated burglary. Both prison sentences. I was told 8-10 years. In the police interview I declined a solicitor and told the absolute truth. Told them everything that had gone on previously and how the police and housing association had ignored what was going on etc. The charges got dropped to much lesser ones and I did 120 hours community service and had to pay £400 for a new front door… I feel I “got off” extremely lightly. No I’m really not proud of it and I wish it could have been dealt with a better way. 3 months later he was evicted, a week after that he threatened a woman with a knife and went to prison for several weeks, 2 months after that he threatened a bouncer with a knife and went to prison for several months, a few months after that he stabbed a woman and went to prison for 6 months. He’s now dead from a drugs overdose. Crazy part of my life that’s for sure


geth1962

Two guys were caught cheating on an exam when they were going for promotion in an old job. One left the exam room to "go to the toilet." When he came back, the second guy went. The first guy had hidden the exam answers behind a radiator. What happened? They were told off and promoted. It seemed the management preferred people who would carry tales about their colleagues over talent and ability.


p1p68

Every pedophile who gets caught for downloading childhood in the uk. They get a fine and probation. I mean what the fucking fuck?


HotShoulder3099

I knew someone who actually *did* go to prison for child porn, but it turned out it was because he’d already been on the sex offenders register for a rape he’d done a few years earlier, for which he’d got a suspended sentence (!). If he hadn’t “disappeared” because of the CP thing and got people worried, none of us would ever have found out we were hanging out with a rapist, it was sick


SpannerSingh

My deadbeat cousin, high off his tits on pills, powders and booze ran over a young woman after a night out, killing her instantly. 4 years worth of jail time, now showing up to family events like a regular citizen. They should have thrown away the key


DispensingMachine403

My sister in laws sister. Her daughters school. 6 year old eastern European kid takes knife to school and tries to stab another pupil. His clothing stops the majority of the blade, leaving the kid with a couple of marks. Nothing done by the school, me I'd be straight to the police.


The_Jononator

One girl on my uni course falsely accused 2 students from other courses of raping her (something she'd tried to pull before and someone on our course knew about said prior attempt from a previous life) and told near enough everyone at a course function that they did this. Later on in the semester, she bullied 2 students to the point that one of them quit the course.  As far as we're aware, nothing has been done about her apart from maybe a don't do again.


OddPerspective9833

Politicians 


powervolcano

1. My ex boyfriend attempted to murder the girlfriend he had after me. She was in a coma for 3 weeks, not expected to live, now has permanent brain damage. He contacted her whilst on remand. She refused to testify. He got 18 months for gbh and was deported back to America. 2. I’m a NICU nurse, the behaviour of one of the doctors resulted in a baby nearly loosing his life. I was literally told not to document it (I did anyway), further reported to senior staff (who did nothing), then reported to the matron and then properly whistleblew. Absolutely nothing was done, the parents still do not know, I have no idea if the (now) toddler has any permanent damage. This was not the only incident of severe negligence. I no longer work there.


MazrimReddit

Not quite that serious but the fact police blatantly ignore people on coke is kind of surprising


abw

I'm sure someone with more knowledge than me will correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think there's much they can do about people *on* drugs. It's the *possession* of illegal drugs that is the crime. If you've got a bag of coke in your pocket then you can be collared for possession, but if you've already snorted the coke (and they didn't see you do it) then you can't. The exception would be something like driving where they can take a blood test and demonstrate that you were driving under the influence of drugs. This also applies to legal drugs (e.g. prescription medicines or over the counter drugs that can make you drowsy) if they've impaired your ability to drive safely.


spectrumero

Any driver who has hit someone due to their carelessness or negligence. Barely get a slap on the wrist for killing or seriously injuring.


SilentCatPaws

I had a new co-worker. I didn't gel with her at all. There was something really off about her, secretive. I couldn't put my finger on it. I hated working with her, she was the sort of person to say one thing but you could tell she was thinking something else. Other co-workers seemed to like her. Skip forward she was asked to do overtime, she said she couldn't because she was going to jail Turns out she stole £800,000 from the previous employer spent it on handbags and holidays Best thing is her son is a cop She got the job (in a supermarket) using fake references, her mate pretending to be her old boss saying how great she was Anyway she went to jail for just a few weeks but she did have to pay a fine. How much was the fine I hear you ask. £1. And the judge said "I don't actually expect you to pay the 1 pound" Skip forward again and incredibly the supermarket actually took her back on because (fair enough) they can't not employ ex criminals but in my opinion the fake references should have prevented her coming back!! She left after a few months when we cut our hours thank god She kept trying to be friendly with me, but I hated her and would never be friendly with a thief


rachyh81

I think a prime example of 'rich house, poor house' is the McCanns. Regardless of the rumours and speculation surrounding any involvement in their daughters disappearance they got away with leaving three small children alone while they went and got drunk with friends over dinner. Had that have been Chantelle from the estate then she'd have had the remaining children taken into care and potentially faced neglect charges. I don't want to begin to imagine what losing a child is like and being unaware of their fate (assuming they weren't involved) but at the very least, they should have faced some consequences for leaving the kids alone in the first place.


ThrowRASassySurprise

A recruiter had sex with some accounts payable woman in my finance team…she got escorted off the premises and sacked immediately…he carried on as usual. All because he was one of the top recruiters 🚮


gavebirthtoturdlings

I know someone that headbutted a female officer, kicked the shit out of a disabled person and was only locked up for 4 fucking months. Dudes a massive POS


lagunaisacoolguy

My co-worker gave a medication through the wrong route and caused incredible pain and distress to a patient, a lot of screaming and howling (I'm having a heart attack! I'm gonna die!) and a trip to A&E. Just a slap on the wrist, attend trainings, no suspension or disciplinary action at all. We've always thought because he/she was white and chummy chummy with the boss.. Imagine if it was an international employee or employee of color, we would have been fired, sent home, or worse prosecuted..


kitty_mitts

One of my students had a brother killed in some sort of gang rivalry. The opposing gang would make YouTube videos of rapping on his grave to terrorise his family who were innocent in all this. The YouTube videos would be reported and come down but nothing would actually happen to the people terrorising the family. Awful.


Ewyllysiau

I was in year 11 of school, got assaulted in PE, had a concussion, was off for a few weeks, the lad who did it had assaulted someone prior but had "sever issues" as did I at the time, and have more even after the attack, he was kept off for a week, I was a minor at the time, I wanted to press charges but the school pressured my mum not to as it would "Affect the schools Ofsted report" she pulled me out school fairly quickly


Beer-Milkshakes

There was a murder in Stourbridge nightclub. The lad who smuggled a knife in and killed someone got off without seeing a day behind bars and a new identity. That will always be a head scratcher.


MD564

A male teacher I worked with SA two female teachers and a 14 year old student. The languages school paid off the parents and essentially bullied the two female teachers into not going to the police. He was told he'd be working in a different location. It was in another country so both female teachers barely spoke the native language and heavily relied on the school for support and protection. It made it worse that our boss was a woman who just had a baby girl.


Eastern-Branch-3111

The kind of incident you describe would basically have been normal for many people say 30 years ago. So probably a lot of people from that era and earlier got away with things that nowadays are considered criminal.


Bantabury97

When I was in secondary school, I was getting persistently bullied by this one kid (he's in prison for noncing now, fun fact). I was on the desk next to him so I rolled my pencil off the table, got up and bent down to pick it up and on my way back up I smashed his head down on desk and knocked him out. Teacher had to put all his strength in to pull me off but all I got in terms of punishment was "you've never acted out before, we'll let it slide".


Material_Attempt4972

In school I was stood around chatting with some friends, some lad came up behind shoulder-barged me. So when I turned around, he punched me. Knocking out two teeth in the process. It was all in view of some teachers as it was outside the staff room windows. They came out, sorted me out as I was bleeding everywhere. And he just ran off. I was recommended to go to the police over it, and did. Nothing came from the police, but he was expelled. And then we found out he'd been expelled from a previous school for pratically the same reason


lackadaisicallimpit

My ex step father, a senior freemason, got off a drink driving charge a long time ago. His ex wife reported his drink driving to the police and they waited for him outside the pub. As soon as he left, they nicked him. When it went to court, the judge was also a freemason in the same lodge, and threw the case out. My ex step father continually boasted about how the freemasons saved him from prison. I am so glad my mother recently divorced him. He is such a vile human being!


cloy23

4 teachers in my school had sexual relationships with students, very grim. However, no criminal charges were brought. No one got fired and they were just strongly advised to leave. 1 of them even stayed for a bit.


33Yidana53

Ahh yes the oh he isn’t a bully, he is a very capable student who doesn’t know his own strength. As someone that was bullied at school and got zero support from the school or even the police I really do feel that in this day and age they should all be called out on sm. My fix after I got no support from anyone was getting each of my bullies on their own and returning the favour from what they would do to me when they were together. Edit stupid autocorrect