SARAH LOCKER was an ideal candidate to boost police diversity: a woman of Turkish origin who wanted to become a detective. But the 43-year-old officer left the Metropolitan Police, saying that she had suffered 14 years of racial and sexual discrimination.
She won a settlement package worth about £1 million, including pension rights, on the eve of a tribunal in 2000.
Mrs Locker said that she was surprised and disappointed to learn that large numbers of women and ethnic minority officers were still leaving the force.
“After my case they said they would change the grievance procedure and set up support networks, but it seems it’s all lip service. Clearly not much has changed,” she said.
“I endured a lot of sexual harassment and racist comments. I was 18 when I started and just accepted it because I was naive. I did nothing about it for years because I loved my job — but after 14 years I eventually decided that enough was enough.
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“My name was written on porn magazines and dangerous dogs posters. One officer tried to simulate oral sex on me while I was sitting at my desk talking to a member of the public.
“I repeatedly tried to resolve the problems in-house but was ostracised. I had a phone call saying it wasn’t safe for me to be in any police building.”
Mrs Locker’s applications to join the CID were repeatedly turned down. She took her case to a tribunal and returned to work after the force made a public apology for its treatment of her. But the abuse continued and she was ignored by fellow officers. Within weeks she was signed off with stress and was eventually retired on medical grounds.
She took the Metropolitan Police to the High Court and sued for breach of contract, but the force settled before she could give evidence.
Mrs Locker, a mother of two, said: “I was being punished for bringing attention to the problem. I had a promising career and I miss my job to this day. I still can’t bring myself to say that I’m not a police officer.”