My dad worked for the police force...
...when we lived in Cambridgeshire. He clocked around 13 years of dedicated service and has about 1,000,000 stories to tell of his time, and boy does he tell ‘em - I don’t mind though, its always kept me on the straight and narrow, well, actually he just used to scare the shit out of me so I was too scared to break the law… just in case he found out… and then found me!! *shudders*

Anyhoo, one story that has always stuck in my mind relates to this QOTW so I’ll fire it down here for all to read, if you feel like it…

One miserable drizzly evening in 2000 my dad and his partner in crime (enforcement) got a call about a domestic dispute in Wisbech, a man had beaten up his wife. They hopped in the car and drove around to the address to meet up with the two police officers that were already at the house.

The second they knocked on the door a women swung it open and got right in my dads face shouting. She had a bruised cheek and a collected work of verbal obscenities and she wasn’t afraid to use them. My dad tried to calm down the woman and asked her to explain what had happened. She started jumping around screaming that her husband had beaten her and that they needed to throw him in prison as he was a danger to society. It was then my dad realised they were one person short. Where was the husband?

My dad left the hysterical woman with his partner and went on a search for the husband. One of the officers that had arrived first at the scene told my dad it was straight-forward what had happened, the guy had beaten his wife and was now handcuffed and in the living room, clearly regretting his crimes.

My dad found the guy sitting on the floor and crouched down next to him when the woman burst into the room shouting, kicking and spitting at her husband. ‘He’s been beating me for years, and I couldn’t take it anymore so I finally hit him back’ she cried.

Now usually if this sort of thing happened you would just assume that the woman was telling the truth. She was visibly hurt, clearly upset and had probably just snapped and lashed out at her husband after years of abuse – the only problem was the husband. He was calm and clearly petrified, something didn’t quite sit right with my dad so he separated the couple and helped lift the guy off the floor to sit him at the table. He winced as he stood up and said that he was sorry he has hit her and would go to the station and wouldn’t put up a fight.

This guy was just not acting like your usual wife-beater and my dad was suspicious of what was going on. Then he noticed the blood that was seeping through the guys shirt. He asked him if his wife had hurt him and he immediately started stuttering that it was her blood and he must have made her bleed when he hit her. Seeing as his wife had a bruised cheek and didn’t look like she was bleeding my dad asked the guy to stand up and pull up his t-shirt.

Turns out the guy was the one being abused. His wife had been beating him for about 6 years and he was too embarrassed and afraid to go to the police. She used to stab him in the stomach with her knitting needles and his chest was covered in scars and scabs. Apparently he had been the one to finally snap and when he said he was going to call the police she hit herself in the face, made the call and said she had been beaten – I mean really, what a bitch.

Soooo yes, thankfully my dad picked up on what was going on and arrested the right person, and she confessed to everything once at the station. I do wonder how often this sort of thing goes on and goes undetected because the guys are too ashamed to come forward?

Apologies for the length and seriousness, I have posted a funny one somewhere too!! :)
(Flim-Flam the Magnificent "You is talking loco and I like it!", Tue 19 May 2009, 12:50, 2 replies)

It's believed to go on a lot
but as you note, blokes may be too embarrassed to get help. This is unfortunate as the police these days take domestic violence much more seriously than in the past.
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Wed 20 May 2009, 5:04, closed)

...
...exactamundo! Not all police are evil.
(Flim-Flam the Magnificent "You is talking loco and I like it!", Wed 20 May 2009, 9:29, closed)