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An official examination of how police forces dealt with rape has revealed persistent failings in the criminal justice system, including failure to track repeat suspects, “blatant victim-blaming” and botched investigations.
A long-awaited independent report into the first year of Operation Soteria Bluestone – commissioned by the government after a catastrophic drop in rape prosecutions – also paints a picture of overworked, traumatized and inexperienced police forces in England and Wales, which are struggling. To deal with the rise in reports of rape after years of austerity.
The report – whose findings have been accepted by the Home Office – analyzed 80,000 rape reports across five forces, including a deep dive into police data and revealing detailed discussions with officers. This is the first time academics have been given access to such a range of police records and have worked with select forces to understand how investigations progress.
The Ministry of Justice said the most recent data, 18 months after the government’s rape review into the rape crisis, showed “significant improvements”. The MoJ said police referrals to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) increased by 95%, cases by two-thirds and the number of cases reaching court by 91% compared to the quarterly average of 2019. There were 2,102 prosecutions in 2019 – the lowest level on record.
But the 191-page report, which contains anonymous evidence from police officers, will make uncomfortable reading for police leaders and government ministers.
The report stated that officers lacked expert understanding and that while some victims did not rely on inaccurate assumptions of reliability “the overwhelming direction of travel [was] still depends on an inaccurate understanding of victims and perpetrators”.
It states: “At worst, officers displayed apparent victim-blaming and a lack of trust in the victim, which affected subsequent investigations. For example, victim credibility was often focused on and used to close cases within certain forces. or was being investigated.”
Academics also found serving officers who “don’t think so [sexual offences] Policing should be a priority.”
“Some stated that they believed that most reports of rape were simply examples of ‘regrettable sex’, or that if victims presented additional issues such as mental health problems or alcohol/substance abuse, this was the problem of the victim and the legal system. are not obligated to protect them,” the report states.
Women’s groups were outraged by the report, with Andrea Simon, director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, saying it exposed “the underbelly of the police and the extent to which the police are failing women and girls”. Jane Butler, CEO of Rape Crisis England and Wales, said it revealed “the most fundamental failings”.
The report also found that checks to see if suspects had already been reported were not always carried out, despite the fact that researchers found that more than half of nominated suspects in all five forces had a criminal history for a series of offenses and one in four Had a criminal history. A history of sexual offending.
The report emphasized that officers are struggling to cope with workload and emotional trauma and need support. A bespoke survey of NHS staff during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic found more.
The report said none of the forces had the necessary “data systems, analysts or analytical capabilities”, and many of the vacancies were difficult to fill for specialist sex crime units. An officer who previously worked in the CID said that he considered sex crime cases “‘pink and fluffy’ cases because they were victim-centred, and avoided them in favor of burglaries and robberies”.
The disbandment of specialist units during austerity had led to a “de-professionalisation of the role of the rape and other sexual crime investigator” and a lack of learning and development “weakened the capacity of any force of upskilled officers”.
Inexperience was common among the five forces examined. One officer said: “I think my shift alone consists of about 80% of people with less than two years of service. And when the sex crime job comes up, there’s almost an ‘Oh my God, what am I going to do’ panic.
The report also provides rarely seen in-depth data on the thousands of cases it investigated. It found that around one-third of rapes investigated by police also involved domestic abuse, rape charge rates varied by local policing areas within pilot forces and charge rates were lower for cases involving partners and ex-partners.
Joint academic lead Professor Betsy Stanko said the report made for “tough reading”, but said it had been bravely taken by the forces involved. “I have been amazed by the bravery and integrity of the many officers who are determined to change this area of work,” she said.
“At this point, it’s not getting worse, it’s getting better. The conversation we’ve started has made people think about what they’re doing and how they can improve.”
Home Secretary Suella Braverman said the report showed “there are huge hurdles to overcome” but said there were early signs of improvement, adding: “I am determined to build on this to bring about sustainable change in the way rape is investigated.”
Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said the government had launched a 24/7 rape and sexual abuse helpline, allowed victims to pre-record evidence and introduced a new approach to police investigations “which focuses on the behavior of the suspect rather than the victim”. .
Reacting to the report, Steve Reid, Labour’s shadow justice secretary, said women “don’t feel safe” after 12 years under the Conservatives and that “sexual violence and rape have been effectively criminalised”.
Chief Constable Sarah Crews, lead of the National Police Chiefs Council for Adult Sexual Offences, her force in Avon and Somerset, which first introduced the pilot and implemented changes based on academic findings, increased its rate of adult rape charges from 3%. More than 10%.
“Uncovering the deep-rooted and systemic issues in policing is the first major milestone in achieving the transformative change needed to improve the policing response to rape,” she said. “Everyone in the police recognizes that we must do better and this program has been met with a genuine desire and openness to change.”
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