Call to end use of gagging orders to silence victims of police misogyny

Women in Britain’s police force, on patrol in Suffolk. The rank and file chief, Steve Hartshorn, says that if any force members are victimised or bullied it ‘needs to be called out on every level’. Photograph: Kumar Sriskandan/Alamy

Police chiefs have been covering up the misogyny suffered by female officers and staff, and must stop using gagging orders to silence victims, the leader of rank and file officers has revealed.

Steve Hartshorn, chair of the Police Federation, which represents 130,000 officers up to the rank of chief inspector, said there should be a “hostile environment” for corrupt officers. He told the Guardian that chief constables bore the brunt of the blame for the crises that were sapping the legitimacy of policing.