MPs

Ok so after “waking up” at 8am (I hadn’t sleep for 4 days), I decided on Monday morning to call Jess Philips’ MP office at 11am. I was off from work and enraged still by what’s been going on with the police.

After a few rings, I connected to a human male. An actual person. I explained that I needed to talk to Jess Philips about a domestic abuse case and the police, then gave my name.

“Ah I’ve found your emails, sorrry I’ve not had a chance to read them yet”, he said.

Obvious that’s fine, it was early. I let him read them. 

He was horrified by what I’d explained. He was so sympathetic and kind, but ultimately, Jess Philips is not my MP and despite being the Domestic abuse Minister, she can’t interfere with police forces from other counties. That being said, Jess would be so concerned about my case that she would support my MP with it.

Awesome, I thought. Rules are rules but it’s amazing to actually speak to a person about this who has the ability to empathise!

I then emailed my local MP, Lincoln Jopp, as there is no phone number on his website to call.

While I waited for Jopp’s reply, I couldn’t sit still with the drive to do me. So I got in my car and drove to Surrey Police HQ in Guildford. I was determined to speak to Tim De Meyer, the Chief Constable (that’s apparently a senior rank 🤷‍♂️) about what my mum has endured at their hands.

Apparently Surrey HQ is just a training facility…I tried to enter the building but I was stopped by a small black box next to the barriers which told me I needed an appointment to come in.

To summarise: they wouldnt let me in. They wouldn't let me make an appointment with Tim De Meyer. 

I then went to the Police and Crime Commissioner's office and was told that she doesn't look into individual cases, only statistics. Brilliant. So you need to have already been failed by the system, i.e. have been killed, in order for them to consider your case as one single statistic.

A few hours later, Lincoln Jopp's assistant, Gloria, called me. She was fantastic. Warm, friendly and empathetic, she got it immediately and was horrified that something like this could happen to a domestic abuse survivor.

She asked me to summarise all the details, which I did, and she told me she would get in touch with her contacts at Surrey Police.

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