A survivor of sexual abuse as a very young child has spoken about how keeping her secret shaped her life, and how much brighter she feels since she found the courage to speak out.
It was 1995, and Amy* was just three years old and sitting on her grandfather’s lap when he first touched her inappropriately during a tickling game.
This abuse went on practically every week until she was nine, and even involved him photographing and videoing her, despite her asking him to stop.
And with his words that it was her fault, and that she wouldn’t be believed, hanging over her, she didn’t tell a soul for 27 years.
Before I joined Bedfordshire Police in 2014, I spent 11 years in the Royal Military Police and worked around the world, including the UK, Germany, Canada, Kenya, Iraq, Kuwait and South East Asia.
My time in the military, working in so many different places with people from such varied backgrounds and cultures, taught me one of my biggest skills, which is the ability to communicate with others on a personal level. It’s not just about what you say, it’s also about your body language and how you express yourself, and how you learn to adapt your style to suit those you interact with.
At Bedfordshire Police everybody matters; every person in the chain matters and we all add value to the objective, which is to keep people safe.
We are a small cardre of Superintendents and Chief Superintendents and the expectation is that you can do lots of different things and that you’re omnicompetent across different areas. There’s responsibility of the entire force sitting on your shoulders at times and relationships with other people are important to get the job done. But there’s lots of room for ideas, innovation and for thinking of how we can do things better and differently.
My ambition is to help this force achieve excellence and I think everybody who works here wants the force to be excellent.
There are pockets of excellence everywhere I look and some really superb people, working against the odds at times, to achieve some fantastic outcomes.
When I joined Bedfordshire Police I was put into a role that suited my skills, which is something that is nice to have happen to you. Often in policing you’re just put in a job and not much account is taken of your skill set and your experience, nothing could be further from the truth at Bedfordshire Police. The Detective Chief Superintendent at the time, sat down with me and found out about me, what I’m good at, what skills I have and gave me, in my opinion, the best job in the force.
It was good to feel valued, to have someone look at what I’ve done in the past and think you can add real value for us in this role.
I transferred to Bedfordshire Police after spending 18 years in the Met. Moving out of the Met was a big decision for me but it was fuelled by wanting to work for my home force and help make the county I live in be the safest place for my family. Another driver was the opportunities available by being a part of a tri-force collaboration and working with teams in Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, as well as the potential for secondment this gives.
Bedfordshire has metropolitan problems but with county level, rural funding and it felt most closely aligned with my experiences in the Met. Luton feels very much like a London borough; the problems and the challenges are very similar.
I felt it was like something I know and can bring value to.
Julie Henderson, Detective Superintendent.
Our Superintendent and Chief Superintendent recruitment process is currently open, applications close on Sunday 4 October. If you would like to join Bedfordshire police please visit www.bedfordshire.police.uk/superintendents
