Season 1 Episode 31: “Acting in Bad Faith”: UK Centre for Women’s Justice Files Groundbreaking “Super-Complaint”

About This Episode

In 2020, the Centre for Women’s Justice (CWJ) filed a groundbreaking “super-complaint” against all police forces in England and Wales. The complaint alleged patterns of “serious concerns about the way policing systems operate where police officers are accused of domestic abuse” and raising concerns of a “lack of integrity, of officers manipulating the system and acting in bad faith in a variety of ways.”

In this episode, David and Ruth interview Nogah Ofer, the CWJ solicitor who filed the complaint, and “Amy” (pseudonym used), an officer-involved domestic violence (OIDV) survivor whose story is included in the complaint. The interview covers:

• The genesis of the complaint

• The patterns of abuse and experiences of UK OIDV survivors

• The failures of the police system to respond effectively to these officers’ behaviors

Amy shares the details of her abuse and how the system failed to respond to her safety needs. 

Additional Resources

• Listen to other episodes in the OIDV series: 

  • Season 1 Episode 28: “I Have Something I Want to Talk to You About”: A Conversation About the Experiences of OIDV Survivors with Dr. Leanor Boulin Johnson

  • Season 1 Episode 27: “How Much Crime Are You Willing to Let Your Police Commit?”: An Interview with Retired Lieutenant Detective Mark Wynn and Retired Police Chief Tom Tremblay

  • Season 1 Episode 26: Listening to the Voices of Survivors of Officer-Involved Domestic Violence: An Interview with Nanette Chezum

  • Season 1 Episode 25: When Police Officers Commit Domestic Violence: An Interview with Alex Roslin

• Safe & Together Institute’s domestic abuse–informed trainings

• Safe & Together Institute’s upcoming events

• David Mandel’s book Stop Blaming Mothers and Ignoring Fathers: How to Transform the Way We Keep Children Safe from Domestic Violence