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How can I trust them again?

I had a very bad experience with some police officers a few years ago, and I'm having a really hard time feeling safe even though I've moved to a different state. I was raped by several men in my own apartment. Afterwards, I had a bit of a memory problem and went about life as usual, like my mind had put it on the back burner for awhile. When I finally decided to deal with it, my husband and I walked into my local police department and told them everything. They separated my husband and myself, and they told him I had willingly had sex with these men. They interrogated me, and told me that they didn't believe a word I was saying, and how dare I try to hurt innocent people. I left the police department, stunned and very scared. They did go talk to the men that had done this, and now I was afraid of retribution. I've since moved to another state, but now I am still very terrified of police. I've had therapy, but at this point I think I need to try something else. Just to clarify: I don't think all police are like this, I just have a sort of fight-or-flight reaction when I see them. I think mainly I'm curious if there are programs where police work directly with citizens or any other ways I can be around police officers in a positive atmosphere and just get to know some that could help me just get used to their presence. Thanks in advance More clarification: I did not 'let' these men into my apartment. They broke in. There was semen evidence on the floor, the men claimed consentual sex. I do not believe that because I had reported late this gave the officers any right to treat me as they did.

Public Comments

1. Get a lawyer
2. personally i would of contacted a higher authority...FBI or internal affairs...something like that...those cops can get in HUGE trouble for that, it goes against the constitution..I'd look into contacting a higher authority...also that could be a big law suit as well, look into getting a lawyer. that's horrible, I'm sorry you had to go through that.
3. Well, it helps to remember that not all police are alike. It sounds like you got a nasty batch when you were most vulnerable. Unfortunately, the best of way of dealing with THOSE particular officers is to go over their heads to their bosses, internal affairs and the press - however, you may not have the emotional energy to do that right now. However, by-and-large, the police are there to serve the public. Really. Most of them do a pretty spectacular job given what little resources they have. Painting them all with the same brush is as bad as saying that all negroids are thieves or all caucasoids are moneygrubbers. It *IS* true that police are taught early on in the process to stick up for each other (the so called "blue line"), but not to the point where they disobey the law. Good luck!
4. I am so very sorry that you had to go through such a horrible ordeal and the police didn't make it any easier, for sure. Several years ago I took a federally funded citizens police training course! It was a wonderful and enlightening experience to learn all about their job. Please do NOT allow that particular experience to put you off policemen in general. There are always a few that get high on their power but, as a rule, they are a wonderful, helpful group of very under paid men and women. I wish you all the best.
5. after that i wouldn't trust them at all. what state did u live in? Well u can get a big scary dog to scare them off if anyone ever comes agian!
6. In the event of a case such as yours you can do only one thing. Accept the fact that those police did not believe your story, and the fact that you did not report the rape immediately was probably the reason. The police cannot charge anyone without evidence. You gave your side, the three men gave their side of what happened. The police didn't charge them because they couldn't. Even if they did believe you, there was no proof. Even rapes that are reported immediately are difficult to prove. Try to understand that it was not the police who did you wrong, but your personal actions hindered their position of enforcing the law. That was not your fault, either. I'm sure it was fear, doubt and other personal factors which flooded your mind initially. After you had time to think about it, you decided you wanted to report it. You learned two serious life lessons-- One: Don't let men into your apartment without your friends or others around as witnesses to what is happening. Two: Report any crime as soon as possible, preserving any evidence thereof. If you try to see it that way, you might sleep better. While it's possible the police favored the men's story over your story, you don't know exactly why, so it's best to put it down as a bad experience/lessons learned. And try not to distrust police in general. Many have given their lives in service to the rest of us.