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Rape and sexual offences to be treated as seriously as terror threats, police say Rape and sexual offences to be treated as seriously as terror threats, police say
(about 5 hours later)
Police have pledged to treat rape and sexual offences as seriously as threats to national security after a new report found that rape victims were being failed by a lack of resources among police and prosecutors. Police will treat rape and sexual offences as seriously as terrorist threats to Britain, the country’s most senior officer has said.
The review was conducted by Elish Angiolini for the Metropolitan police and CPS. It said the government must provide more resources to help deal with an increase in complaints of rape and sexual violence. The vow by Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe came after a new report found that rape victims were being failed in several ways including a lack of resources among police and prosecutors.
Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said: “We have to give the same priority to sex offence investigations as we do to counter-terrorism.” The review was conducted by Dame Elish Angiolini QC, formerly Scotland’s top prosecutor, and commissioned by the Metropolitan police and Crown Prosecution Service. It said the government must provide more resources to help deal with a rise in complaints of rape and sexual violence.
The report makes 46 recommendations and comes against a backdrop of most victims suffering in silence and not telling the police they have been attacked; 80% of victims do not report their attacks, meaning such crimes are severely under-reported. Hogan-Howe, commissioner of the Metropolitan police, said he would ask for more money for around 300 extra specialist officers and, if rebuffed, find it from his budget, which he says will shrink by another 15% because of austerity cuts, having shrunk by 15% already since 2010.
The report tells of concerns within the police and prosecutors handling rape cases: “High levels of anxiety were observed in both organisations, which, unless additional resources are forthcoming, can only become worse as staff struggle to meet increasing crime reporting.” Only a minority of sex attacks are ever reported to police and in turn only a fraction of attackers are ever convicted.
The Met, Britain’s biggest force, has been dogged by a series of scandals over the way it investigates rape. There has also been sustained concern about the failure to bring more sexual violence offenders to justice. The review’s focus is on how cases of rape are investigated and prosecuted in London but its findings could lead to changes nationally. Errors by the Met meant one of Britain’s worst serial rapists, John Worboys, remained at large as chances to catch him were missed. He was jailed for life in 2009, with detectives fearing he attacked at least 105 women over a six-year period. Some of the Met’s specialist sexual violence units, known as Sapphire, have been hit by problems and, in several areas, the Met failed to record rape incidents as crimes, in breach of its own policy. Angiolini was lord advocate in Scotland, the top prosecutor in the jurisdiction, from 2006 to 2011 and is now the principal of St Hugh’s College, Oxford. Police say they have seen a big increase in claims of sexual violence since publicity around the Jimmy Savile case. Already this year the level is 16% higher than the previous year and police chiefs expect increases of 10% or more in the years to come.
Hogan-Howe said: “We have to give the same priority to sex offence investigations as we do to counter-terrorism.”
From 2005 to 2014 there was a 68% rise in recorded offences of sexual attacks but only a 17% rise in charges.
The report makes 46 recommendations – including changes to the law on when someone is incapable of consenting to sex – and comes against a backdrop of estimates that 80% of victims are not reporting their attacks, meaning such crimes are severely under-reported.
The report tells of concerns within the police and prosecutors handling rape cases of the “overwhelming” workload: “High levels of anxiety were observed in both organisations, which, unless additional resources are forthcoming, can only become worse as staff struggle to meet increasing crime reporting.”
The commissioner warned of “burnout” among those tasked with bringing attackers to justice.
Scotland Yard’s view is that the problems have been exacerbated by the post-Savile surge. Victims’ rights groups, and even some in the police, have privately feared a culture of disbelief by officers and lack of empathy.
The report details concerns that some detectives suffer from lack of empathy: “Some detective inspectors were concerned that the impact of ‘burnout’ on those working in this field and of ‘compassion fatigue’ due to unacceptable workloads has left some officers incapable of recognising any but those they consider the most deserving of complainants.
“Similarly, senior staff at the Havens [centres for victims] suggested that the lack of occupational health support available to SOIT [sexual offences investigative techniques] officers leaves them susceptible to ‘vicarious trauma’. This, we were told, can desensitise officers, leading to fatigue, lack of ability to cope and, significantly, lack of ability to empathise.”
It also found some officers vastly overestimating the likelihood of false complaints.
Angiolini said officers, prosecutors and the public had to shed myths from “medieval” times about how victims will behave, and get a better understanding of psychological factors that may leave those attacked not able to fight or shout, or with difficulty presenting a wholly consistent account.
She also said victims suffer a “toxic psychology” that leads to them blaming themselves or feeling shame. She told of one rape victim who who was “relieved that she was conservatively dressed” when attacked yards from her home so her style of dress would not be blamed for bringing the attack upon herself.
The Met, Britain’s biggest force, has been dogged by a series of scandals over the way it investigates rape. Errors meant one of Britain’s worst serial rapists, John Worboys, remained at large as chances to catch him were missed. He was jailed for life in 2009, with detectives fearing he attacked at least 105 women over a six-year period. The Met is still fighting a court case against two victims seeking damages for the force’s failings.
Some of the Met’s specialist sexual violence units, known as Sapphire, have been hit by problems and, in several areas, the Met failed to record rape incidents as crimes, in breach of its own policy.
The report said Sapphire was in crisis because of excessive workloads: “The review was very concerned ... that staff were being held to account against policies that they could barely hope to comply with due to excessive workloads. Staff expressed great concern about this situation which skewed working practices.”
Over at the CPS, the review found prosecutors facing a doubling in caseloads and describing the situation as “impossible” and “perilous”. Management response was to ignore warnings from their own staff and to “get on with it”.
Sarah Green, acting director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition said: “We must recognise that the vast majority of survivors of rape still do not report it to the police.“
Karen Froggatt of Victim Support said: “Rape victims fear they will not be believed or their case won’t be investigated properly, so the person who raped them will never be charged with a crime. That has serious consequences if that rapist goes on to attack another person.
“Consent is about much more than if someone said ‘no’, so the circumstances surrounding the incident should be examined carefully from the perspective of the victim.”