PC Shares Shocking Experience Of Racist Abuse

15 July 2026

A Gloucestershire officer who has been a victim of racial abuse multiple times over the three-and-a-half years she’s been in the force has welcomed the Federation’s support of the ‘Protect The Protectors: Stop Racism Against Police’ campaign.

The first time PC Pandor was racially abused at work, she was still in her tutorship. She said: “I was asked to help transport a woman who'd been arrested for drug offences, and she made a really personal comment. She said that she wished to Allah that I couldn’t have children, which felt very malicious in its intention.

“I'm a Muslim, hijab-wearing female and I'm of Indian heritage, so that's predominantly why I'm targeted. I've had people call me a terrorist, I've had people call me the ‘P’ word, that sort of thing. It's not right and it angers me, because people shouldn't be using these words to degrade me. But that one in my tutorship was really upsetting, that someone could have such a level of hatred for someone that they don't know, and that they would wish harm on them.”

PC Pandor reported the incident, but the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to charge the woman. She put in a right to review, and the CPS charged it, but it then got dismissed at court. “That was really disheartening,” said PC Pandor.

Then, when PC Pandor joined the response team, she was a victim of racial abuse again three times in a matter of weeks. A particularly shocking incident was when she assisted with the arrest of a man who was trespassing on the railway.

PC Pandor recalled: “He became aggressive, was resisting physically, and he called me a racial slur. He said, effectively, that because I wear a headscarf I shouldn't be in the force. There were only three of us officers, and my colleagues did say to me, ‘You can step back if you want to’, but I was fearful that things would escalate. So I continued to assist where I could, but he then said he would love to watch me get raped.

“We were all there to try to help him, to establish how he could get home safely, and just because I wear a headscarf and I'm not white, he was wishing such horrible, horrible things on me.”

Thankfully, that case did go to court; the offender got 20 weeks in prison and PC Pandor received £200 in compensation. And another offender who racially abused PC Pandor received 14 days in prison, concurrently with time for another offence.

PC Pandor said she hoped other officers who had been racially abused felt able to report incidents, adding: “I think you just have to do it, because if you don’t, they're going to think that it's okay to continue doing this, because there's never going to be any consequences. Even if eventually it gets dropped by the courts, at least they've had to go through that process.”

She also encouraged officers to step in and say something if they see a colleague being racially abused: “If colleagues jump in as quickly as they can, it always makes me feel so much better, it makes me feel so secure with the people that I work with.

“My colleagues have most definitely helped me get through a lot of this, because if I didn't have their support, I'd feel like I was fighting it completely on my own. I know that there are a lot of people who are in that position, and it’s quite upsetting that they have to go through that.”

She said there had been times when she wondered if policing was the right career for her: “I thought ‘Is it worth putting myself through this? This is happening so frequently, I don't know if I can put up with it all the time’. But I've wanted to do this job for years, I studied criminology at uni, this is what I've been working towards. And, on the whole, I really enjoy the job. But I do sometimes wonder, ‘Is the good that I'm doing worth the mental toll that it takes on me?’”

PC Pandor said she was pleased that Gloucestershire Police Federation was backing the ‘Protect The Protectors: Stop Racism Against Police’ campaign, adding: “It was very important for me to share my experiences to highlight the appalling abuse that some police officers face. However, I do still have legitimate fears for my own safety, so I didn’t feel comfortable using my full name or photo for fear of putting myself at risk of further abuse.

“I am pleased that the Federation is backing this campaign. It's good to know that the wider team has your back and that they’re taking active steps to try to make the police a better and safer environment for us all.”