Former female police officer forced out of 'toxic' firearms unit awarded £820,000
West Midlands Police will pay a former female firearms officer £820,000 for being unlawfully forced out of her job after whistle-blowing on misogyny and discriminatory behaviour.
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Rebecca Kalam was one of only seven women in the force's elite firearms unit working alongside 235 men, some of which she claimed constantly belittled her whilst drawing crude genitalia pictures on station walls.
As well as being constantly subjected to the "C word" and seeing a stream of pornographic pictures on the team's Whatsapp group, Rebecca, who regularly had to strip down to her underwear in front of colleagues, raised serious safety concerns about the unit.
The 41-year-old suffered burns due to being forced to wear men's body armour due to none being designed for women.
When she raised the glaring health and safety breach with her superiors she was told to “wear a compression bra” and make do with men’s armour, which “didn’t fit, was painful to wear, and left her feeling unprotected."
During a two week employment tribunal last year West Midlands Police admitted 75 allegations which led to Mrs Kalam being awarded £30,000 for suffering harassment, sex discrimination and victimisation.
