Former New South Wales police officer alleges rape by senior colleague
A former police officer from the Australian state of New South Wales, who is not identified for legal reasons, said that in 2014 a senior colleague raped her after a work event in Sydney. The woman also said she suspects she may have been drugged. The man she accuses is still serving in the state police force, ABC News Australia reports.
Circumstances described by the former officer
Amy said that after an official event, several police officers went to a bar. When she was about to leave, the senior officer, she said, insisted that she have another drink, which he bought at the bar.
Her next memory was of sitting on the floor of a hotel room and being unable to properly move her limbs. The woman said that the colleague was naked in the room and later raped her. She said she could not resist and compared her condition to the effects of anaesthesia, which led her to suspect that she may have been drugged.
According to Amy, the man repeatedly called and messaged her afterwards, asking whether she was okay and asking her not to tell anyone about the incident. She also said that she had previously heard the officer mention adding Rohypnol to women’s drinks — a drug that can be used for sexual assault.
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Reporting to police and subsequent actions
The following morning, the woman called a support line for survivors of sexual assault. She later reported the alleged assault to a New South Wales police commander and her immediate supervisor, but at that time did not want to initiate a criminal investigation. She explained this by saying she did not want to involve her family in court proceedings and did not trust the system for handling such cases.
Several years later, Amy used the Sexual Assault Reporting Option program, which allows an incident to be reported to police without automatically launching a formal investigation. She hoped that her detailed report would trigger an internal review of her colleague. The police professional standards unit contacted her afterwards, but she declined to file a formal complaint.
New South Wales Police confirmed that it received information about the alleged rape as early as 2014 and at that time took the complainant’s wishes into account. The agency said that, based on the information available at the time, further investigative action was not possible. Investigators are now, with the woman’s consent, trying to obtain additional information and remain in contact with her.
Amy’s story emerged three months after an independent review of culture within the state police force. According to the review, 1.1% of more than 4,500 respondents said they had experienced sexual assault by a colleague during the previous five years. The figure was 2.5% among female respondents and 0.3% among male respondents.
