Three quarters of rape victims say police response damaged mental health

[Cloo]

Timely, with all the 'why-didn't-they-go-to-the-police?' going on at the moment,

Three-quarters of rape survivors say police response damaged their mental health

Home Office-funded survey exposes failures over serious sexual crimes by officers in England and Wales

www.theguardian.com

I would say I'm shocked, but it's utterly unsurprising from all I've heard. The cops seem utterly mired in the narrative that silly, emotional, vengeful women make stuff up and that women will somehow 'get something' out of making an accusation. I've heard numerous women say the first thing that come's out of the police's mouth is to warn them how serious it is if they're lying, so, in other words, accusing them of lying.

This article does mention Operation Soteria Bluestone which I understand seems to be having positive effects, I can only hope its practices are widely embedded ASAP.

 

[Elpenor]

This post ties in with a thread from yesterday with a very unhelpful title in general.

https://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/rape-police.382761/

Possibly a candidate for merging.

I’ll report the original post

 

[friendofdorothy]

This post ties in with a thread from yesterday with a very unhelpful title in general.

https://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/rape-police.382761/

Possibly a candidate for merging.

I’ll report the original post

When I saw that thread I thought is that an instruction? or a description of the police's crimes?

 

[friendofdorothy]

Timely, with all the 'why-didn't-they-go-to-the-police?' going on at the moment,

Three-quarters of rape survivors say police response damaged their mental health

Home Office-funded survey exposes failures over serious sexual crimes by officers in England and Wales

www.theguardian.com

I would say I'm shocked, but it's utterly unsurprising from all I've heard. The cops seem utterly mired in the narrative that silly, emotional, vengeful women make stuff up and that women will somehow 'get something' out of making an accusation. I've heard numerous women say the first thing that come's out of the police's mouth is to warn them how serious it is if they're lying, so, in other words, accusing them of lying.

This article does mention Operation Soteria Bluestone which I understand seems to be having positive effects, I can only hope its practices are widely embedded ASAP.

Doesn't surprise me at all considering how low the conviction rate is. And the number of rapists with in the force finally coming to light.

The police are not an organisation to be trusted with the physical safety or mental well-being of women traumatised by rape.

 

[cupid_stunt]

This post ties in with a thread from yesterday with a very unhelpful title in general.

https://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/rape-police.382761/

Possibly a candidate for merging.

I’ll report the original post

As the other thread was locked rather than merged, I'll copy over what Gromit posted, because it's actually a sensible suggestion/question.

America have different units for different crimes - Homicide, Narcotics, Fraud, Etc.

I just looked at the UK setup on wiki. We don't fragment quite so much. Less specialisation. It looks like SID deal with rape and sexual offences but also a ton of other stuff. However, anecdotal accounts of people reporting rape seem to get investigated by regular police first. Leading terrible experiences and poor outcomes.

Would we get better results for victims if there was a dedicated Rape, sexual assault & sexual abuse authority that you could go direct to, bypassing regular police and having immediate access to specialist trained police officers in seperate surroundings? Would victims be more likely to report crimes if such a thing existed? Knowing you were going straight to experts not the generic police station.

I guess it'll vary between different forces, it appears in Sussex it's down to CID, but they have had a specialist Sexual Offences Investigation Team since 2018, but there're only 22 SOIT officers covering a population of about 1.7m across East and West Sussex, so I guess it's pot luck if there's one on duty in a specified part of the two counties at the time a offence is reported, given they had 1500 cases to deal with in their first year.

I am also guessing the local CID teams maybe the first to response, before handing over to the SOIT, which is not ideal.

A new team of Sussex Police officers and staff, the Sexual Offences Investigation Team (SOIT), has already supported 1500 victims of rape and other serious sexual assaults in just one year since it’s inception. The SOIT team has been the first such unit in the country to include police staff, including newcomers to the force, as well as police officers. The police staff have a diverse background – including in domestic abuse casework, victim support services, crime scene investigation or broader investigation experience. All have brought valuable experience to this new role.

Previously Sussex Police had a group of Sexual Offence Liaison Officers who provided this support to victims, but in addition to their regular police duties. Officers and staff across the force had already been able to provide this type of support service but the 22 SOITs are the first full-time dedicated team to do so, working alongside specially trained investigators in Sussex Police’s Specialist Investigation Units (SIUs). The SIUs and SOITs are based alongside each other in Littlehampton, Crawley, Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings. LINK

I've noticed over the past few years that the Sussex Police proportion of my council tax bill has increased by higher percentages than the proportions for both the borough and county councils, so I guess they are perhaps fairly well funded compared to other forces, certainly that link says this team was financed by a rise in the police precept proportion of council tax secured by the Police and Crime Commissioner.

 

[equationgirl]

I"m surprised it's only 75% to be honest, given the way the process treats rape and sexual assault victims, not to mention the time it takes to get a decision from the CPS or the eventual conviction rate. Complete shitshow all round.

 

[dessiato]

Bit of a bump.

I, some while back, listened to one of my sisters talking about her being raped. What I find very bothersome is that she could talk about the rape, but could not talk about her experience with the police. There's something terribly wrong when your experience of rape is not as bad as your experience of the police.

 

[equationgirl]

Bit of a bump.

I, some while back, listened to one of my sisters talking about her being raped. What I find very bothersome is that she could talk about the rape, but could not talk about her experience with the police. There's something terribly wrong when your experience of rape is not as bad as your experience of the police.

I am so sorry to hear about your sister.