Highly placed police sources have indicated that investigations into an alleged case of a woman constable who had been raped by a colleague is in full gear.

The Gleaner also under-stands that since Tuesday, the woman has been reassigned and is now receiving full support from the constabulary.

Over the last few days, The Gleaner has been carrying a story about the alleged rape of a female constable, the authenticity of which has been discredited in some quarters of the police force on the basis that while a similar case is known to the police hierarchy, no report has been made, coinciding in all regards with the story published on Tuesday.

Original story

Gleaner Editor-in-Chief Garfield Grandison said yesterday that certain details of the original story shared with the newspaper by the woman constable (the location and date of the alleged rape) were changed by the newspaper to protect the identity of the alleged victim.

He emphasised that this was not done at the request of the victim, and that this should not operate as a deterrent to the proper investigation of the substantive allegations.

Grandison explained that under the company's code of ethics, children and victims of rape and other sexual abuse are not to be identified in any report published in the newspaper.

Grandison explained that where details are changed, the reader is usually alerted to this by a caveat placed either at the front or end of the story, alerting the reader to the fact that changes had been made to the story to protect to the identity of the source.

Facts edited

While this customary caveat had been mistakenly left off the story, Grandison stated that the only facts, which were edited, were the location of the alleged rape and the date.

He further indicated that representatives of The Gleaner yesterday met with a high-ranking member of the police force to ensure that the force is fully seized of all the facts received from the woman constable and to underscore that the substantive allegations were not edited in the story published by The Gleaner.

Since The Gleaner story broke, a number of police-women have contacted the newspaper, telling their own stories of sexual harassment on the job. Some have indicated that they work in fear of victimisation and choose to remain silent.