According to evidence, police personnel too often dismissed possible rape victims and assumed that most reports of sex assaults included “regretful sex.”
Several policemen were found to have “displayed a culture of doubting victims,” according to an independent Operation Soteria study.
According to the research, several serving officers thought that most accusations of rape included “regretful sex” and that combating rape and other sexual offenses should not be a police priority.
The program discovered proof that police spent excessive time determining the veracity of rape complainants and engaging in “explicit victim shaming.”
Suella Braverman, the home secretary, said that the audit reveals “major barriers to overcome” in the force.
But there are also early indications of progress, and I’m determined to build on them to bring about a long-lasting change in the way rape is probed, according to Suella Braverman.
According to the research, “disproportionate investigative effort was being placed into verifying the reliability of a victim’s claim” in each force, according to the Home Office-published report.
According to the report, at worst, the cops explicitly blamed the victim and lacked faith in the victim, which had an effect on the investigation that followed.
For instance, in certain forces, the credibility of the victim was often emphasized and utilized to either shut or not investigate cases.
It said, “It is urgently required to challenge internal cultures that obstruct fair and equitable rape investigations.”
It was discovered that police investigators’ lack of expertise in sexual offenses has an effect on victim involvement as well as the standard and success of investigations.
Following the government’s assertion that “substantial progress” was being made in the way the criminal justice system handles rape cases, this has happened.
Chief Constable Sarah Crew, who oversees adult sexual offenses for the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said the program has been welcomed with “a real readiness and openness to change,” adding that many of the results are “difficult, and some are alarming.”
»Operation Soteria report: Most sex assault reports are ‘regretful sex’«