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Linda Davidson “fell in love” with the idea of becoming a cop in the early 1980s.

Over a 27-year career with the RCMP, she rose to the rank of inspector — the ninth female Mountie to do so — and landed a gig on the prime minister’s protective detail.

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“I loved every second of being on that detail,” she gushed to a local Ontario newspaper, the Huntsville Forester, shortly after retiring in October 2012. “I loved the excitement, I loved the travel, I loved the life that went on around it, the meeting of new people and visits to new countries.”

But that glowing account masked what she now says was an ugly truth — that for most of her career, she was subjected to bullying and belittling from male officers that left her mentally anguished and even suicidal.

I loved the excitement, I loved the travel

The harassment, she alleges in court papers, took many forms: unwanted grabbing and kissing; crude jokes, including the placement of ketchup-stained tampons in her locker; and constant questioning about her sexual orientation and abilities.