This is The Guardian.

Hello, my name is Claire Longrick and I'm the Deputy Editor of The Guardian Long Read.

This August, every Friday, we're bringing you some of our favourite Long Reads from the year

so far, with an introduction by The Editors. Today, I wanted to talk about a Long Read by Melissa

Deans called, I know where the bodies are buried. One woman's mission to change the way the police

investigate rape. Melissa, who used to work at The Guardian, pitched us this story last June

at the height of the dreadful revelations about the Metropolitan Police's rape record,

not only their record of failing to bring rapists to trial, but officers' records of raping

at least we thought it was the height of the revelations, but of course they just kept coming.

Sarah Everard had been murdered by a serving officer in March 2021, a crime that ripped the

doors off the Met's secretive matcho world. In the midst of this ugly tumult, Melissa had found

a woman who was committed to bringing the worst police practices to light and setting in place

some real reforms. Her name is Betsy Stanko, she's American, a criminologist and instantly

recognisable to a talented journalist as a brilliant central character to lead us through this very

dark world. She instantly had a great attitude and some great lines, she talked about

ripping that beating heart out of the police and putting it on the operating table.

She's also recovering from cancer and battling through her days with a real sense of mission.

Betsy Stanko has a lot of experience working with British police forces, but her journey to get

here was also fascinating. She had been a young professor in New York in the late 1970s when a

colleague reported the head of the department for sexual harassment. At the birthplace of the

feminist movement Stanko was in court supporting a woman whose career was in danger of being destroyed.

Melissa had another more personal reason for pursuing this story, which she had written about

...