Following an assessment that uncovered “systemic inadequacies,” police agencies in England and Wales have been instructed to improve how they look into claims of domestic violence against officers.
The charity Center for Women’s Justice (CWJ) filed a “super-complaint” with three police watchdogs: the College of Policing, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS), and the Independent Office for Police Conduct.
Super-complaints are when organizations complain about harmful patterns or trends in policing.
The joint review, which lasted two years, looked at 56 domestic abuse situations where police personnel and staff were suspected as well as case studies submitted by the CWJ.
Only 9% (14 claims) of the 149 domestic abuse allegations from 2018 across 15 police departments resulted in a criminal charge, according to the study.
When a suspect is a police officer, certain forces have been accused of “not doing enough” to consider the “particular requirements” of domestic violence victims.
A number of authorities were also found to not be “consistently going the extra mile to show that they understand the need of protecting and demonstrating the integrity of the police response.”
Some people were unaware of the “specific hurdles” to reporting if the victim is a police officer.
The damning indictment comes after Met Commissioner Cressida Dick was forced to resign in February as a result of a year-long string of scandals, including the murder of Sarah Everard by one of her officers, the force’s designation as “institutionally corrupt,” and the imprisonment of two officers for taking pictures of dead murder victims.
The research also revealed that inquiries into wrongdoing “are not always being carried out when they should be, or performed effectively.”
Police forces’ professional standards sections should evaluate and typically look into allegations of domestic violence against officers and personnel.
The assessment did not uncover evidence that these investigations were conducted differently to regular domestic violence investigations – with the charge rate finding to be identical.
Even though this is being discussed in the context of the police response to domestic abuse, there is still room for general improvement.
However, it was discovered that “not consistently applied” protections were in place when the suspect was a police officer to guarantee and demonstrate the objectivity of inquiries and judgments.
The inquiry produced a number of suggestions and steps to enhance victim protection and support as well as the caliber of investigations. These include:
A focused program of oversight work into how the force handled these matters will now be carried out by the IOPC.
Its larger efforts to combat violence against women and girls will center on this.
“This is the most thorough review ever undertaken of how police respond to domestic abuse cases involving their own staff,” said Dave Tucker, Head of Crime and Criminal Justice at the College of Policing.
“During our investigation, we heard harrowing stories from victims about the abuse they had experienced, and the further harm caused to them by a poor response from policing.”
Regardless of who the suspect is, our recommendations will greatly enhance the police response to these charges, giving victims of domestic violence the confidence that they will be adequately protected, receive high-quality care, and be the subject of a thorough investigation.
I find it encouraging that various forces are already making efforts to fix the problems we discovered.
“Throughout the inquiry, we also discovered instances of committed police officers working extraordinarily hard to bring justice to victims.
The College of Policing will evaluate and enhance our guidelines and training so that it takes into account the unique dangers when a suspect is a member of the police profession in order to support them as effectively as feasible.
“We hope that victims of domestic abuse will feel reassured that, as a result of this super-complaint investigation, a spotlight has been shone on the police response to police perpetrated domestic abuse, which will now be subject to greater scrutiny,” said Kathie Cashell, Director for Strategy and Impact at the IOPC.
The IOPC will implement a work plan to guarantee that police forces are aware of their responsibilities to manage these cases in accordance with police complaints legislation and that, when needed, police officers and personnel are held accountable through the disciplinary process.
“We are clear in our study that we identified instances of best practice, and our findings will not necessarily be indicative of how police forces handle all allegations,” the report states.
Nevertheless, we admonish all forces to use the conclusions and suggestions in this report to take more action so they can demonstrate that these severe claims are being addressed firmly and without favor.
Domestic violence is a dreadful crime, and it is only normal that the public would want to know that cases are being thoroughly investigated when such abuse is committed by police officers and personnel, according to Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary Roy Wilsher.
While most police officers behave with the utmost integrity and many forces have already taken action in this direction, we discovered that certain forces are not treating these situations with the seriousness they require, and that is unacceptable.
Historically, this topic has received little attention on a national level. Our suggestions today should encourage authorities to move quickly to make sure they are giving victims the care they need while also acknowledging the risk these instances pose to their own integrity and the public’s trust.
The review comes after Priti Patel instructed Sadiq Khan to take “urgent action” to fix the struggling Met after a catastrophic examination uncovered a long list of fresh scandals, including 69,000 crimes going unregistered annually.
The Met was placed into special measures as a result.
With 69,000 crimes going unrecovered year and nearly no crimes documented when victims allege antisocial behavior against them, Scotland Yard was criticized for having a “barely sufficient standard of crime recording accuracy.”
Previous criticism of the Met’s lack of retaliation to Extinction Rebellion demonstrations included video of cops dancing with protesters, which infuriated frustrated Londoners.
Unlike many others, the Mayor of London has long been clear that extensive reforms are urgently required for the Met to win the confidence of Londoners, which is so important to policing by consent.
The terrible effects of government austerity, which caused the number of officers in London to drop below 30,000 and depleted the budget by £1 billion, have been controlled by the Mayor.
Despite this, the Mayor has taken the lead by coming up with a strategy to address culture and performance challenges that are deeply ingrained in the Met, and by being strong on crime and the causes of crime, he has achieved huge declines in violent crime across London.
Sadiq has continuously demanded accountability from the Met and asked for measures to address the systemic and cultural problems affecting the London police department.
Although he has been upfront with Londoners about the scope of the necessary transformation, the Government has opposed him at every turn, including when he lost faith in the previous Met Commissioner.
“Ministers should now concentrate on working with the Mayor and HMIC to improve policing and play a part in appointing a reforming Commissioner so that we can achieve the police reforms and step change in policing performance and culture that Londoners deserve,” the statement reads.
Her Majesty’s Inspector Matt Parr cautioned in a leaked letter to Acting Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Stephen House that the string of scandals and “systemic concerns” about the performance of the force are “likely to have a chilling impact on public faith and confidence in the Met.”