BOOKS ON (IN)JUSTICE AND LAW
NO WAY UP THE GREASY POLE
The fight for equality
Written by Alison Halford
with Trevor Barnes
249 pages
Published by Constable • London
ISBN
0-09-472380-X
Reviewed by Tom Watkins.
For thirty years as “one of the boys” Alison Halford did all that was required of
her. Rising through the ranks until as an accoutrement to the male ego she became
one of four Assistant Chief Constables of the Merseyside Police. Just two steps from
the top job. Allowed to make it this far she then found it was not “what you know”
but “who you know” that really mattered. Nine times she tried to reach the coveted
rank of Deputy Chief Constable to find she was being undermined by those in power,
in spite of being very able and qualified to do the job.
Immensely brave she risked
all by taking them to court. Wow! This really brought out the long knives. The Home
Office, The Police Authority and senior colleagues set out to ruin her. The corrupt
practises and dirty tricks used against her all come out in this book. Who needs
fiction with a story as good as this? Once started I found it impossible to put the
book down.
Backed by the Equal Opportunities Commission and her legal team Alison
not only stopped them destroying her but gained back the entitlements that went with
her job, in spite of the vilification, humiliation and psychological pressure heaped
upon her. She was cross examined for a gruelling fortnight in the witness box in
a case that was abandoned before any of her opponents could be subjected to the same
treatment. The settlement cost the British tax payer over one million pounds. In
spite of this I couldn’t help feeling that still, they not only robbed her but raped
her as well.
However her bravery and tenacity in taking the establishment on, did
not go in vain. During the month I read this book (June, 2000) it was on TV news
that another police woman had won a settlement package worth one million pounds as
a result of discrimination She will not be the last. Thanks to Alison Halford it
will not only be women that will benefit but I am sure men who do not fit the macho
mould as well. The characters at the top of this greasy pole are under siege.
Read
in this book of the bizarre selection procedure she and other young women had to
go through when she first joined the police force and of the truth about the so-called
topless swimming party used against her at the tribunal, proving once again how there
is one law for men and another for women.