Deborah Richardson

Yeah, yeah.

So I think it was also on the back of this particular sergeant on day two of me being out at the academy, Sarah, was yelling and screaming in my face, pointing at me, telling me I was too young, I was too pretty, I was female and I wouldn't last and he would do everything in his power to make sure that I didn't.

And so this was the same sergeant that had filmed me and obviously put in the complaint.

And I was fired all these questions, particularly along the lines of, you know, what are you going to do when you get called to a brawl?

I'm assuming that you're going to sit in the van and you're going to lock those doors and not get out to support your police officer beside you.

And so left, right and centre, these questions were coming at me.

And how did you respond to all of this?

I fought really hard.

I kept my dignity.

I kept my calm.

You know, I was like a swan, smooth on the top and frantically paddling underneath the water because this was what I wanted to do.

And I was not going to let them win.

And I knew I had something to offer and that I could do the job and I could do it capably.

And so I fought really hard.

So I left the room not knowing what the outcome of that was, although I kind of thought, well, I must have done okay because the lady had gone in before me was packing up and already out of the academy doors.

So I knew in some regards that whatever I had said meant that they needed to deliberate on that.

And I think it was the next day that I was informed that I could stay.

The day I graduated, my law instructor came up to me that evening.

We had a dinner and he said to me, Deb, I'm so proud of you.

He said, we had made the decision before you walked in those doors that you were no longer going to be a member of Victoria Police.