Sussex Police censured over murders of two women whose reports they ignored

This has made me cry today, how can this have happened?

There are no words

I haven’t trusted the police for a long time. I can’t see it changing at this rate.

I think one of the things that is so horrific about the Shana Grice case is that it wasn't just an oversight caused by cuts - they made a conscious decision to put the effort into fining her. They decided that she wasn't worth listening to, and now she's dead.

Given there's so many similar cases over a relatively short time period, along with cases such as Worboys, it makes you think that it's high time that the police started dealing with institutional sexism, as well as racism.

I cannot believe how crass and insensitive it is to be promoting this without making any comment on the cases described in the news.

Jesus. Do they have any awareness at all?

Sussex Police are currently promoting their "StalkingStealsLives" campaign on Facebook... this is their post:

"Even if there’s no physical violence or threat, it doesn’t mean that it’s not serious. Report it.

Our specially trained officers can offer guidance and put safety measures in place. Getting help early will assist in protecting you. socsi.in/38y2r #StalkingStealsLives"

I cannot believe how crass and insensitive it is to be promoting this without making any comment on the cases described in the news.

Its disgusting. I seem to be using that word a lot recently, but thats what it is.

They seem to have endless time to visit people over tweets though.

Police in general are overstretched, I get that, but when they are ignoring shit like this and then sending officers on horseback because women are distributing leaflets discussing an impending law change, or interviewing people for writing tweets (meanwhile, ignoring ACTUAL threats in tweets, and stalking - Caroline ) somethings very rotten somewhere along the line.

I dated a police officer in the Met. One evening I asked him how his day was and he said it was boring, all he did all day long was deal with ‘domestics’. I was gobsmacked. I said isn’t that your job? You know to respond to calls for help from people fearing for their lives? He just said when we get there they are ‘just’ yelling at each other, they are both as ‘bad as each other’! Nice to know that a woman trying to defend herself is seen as being equally bad as the perpetrator! I had just come out of an abusive violent relationship and I was so shocked that this was how he saw it! Needless to say the relationship didn’t go any further!

Watchdog says Dorset police took Katrina O’Hara’s mobile as they investigated alleged harassment by Stuart Thomas, leaving her with no means to call for help''

Bloody hell. That is mind boggling.

There was an IOPC investigation into this case, what further lessons needs to be learned?

''Woman was killed by ex-lover just days after police seized her phone''

''Watchdog says Dorset police took Katrina O’Hara’s mobile as they investigated alleged harassment by Stuart Thomas, leaving her with no means to call for help''

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jan/08/woman-was-killed-by-ex-lover-just-days-after-police-seized-her-phone

This piece in the independent describes how Shana Grice was fined for wasting police time. Before being murdered. FUCK

This is so wrong.

Agree Belinda.

So 13 women did not feel confident that they would be believed that a man was behaving in a violent and intimidating way towards them until they had the corpse of another women as evidence.

That speaks volumes.

Looks like the 13 women who came forward to allege stalking from Michael Lane (who killed Shana Grice) only did so after he was charged with her murder. So my previous comment about that is misleading. Sorry about that.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-39745848

"A man who stalked and killed his former girlfriend was reported to police by 13 other women after he was charged, it has been revealed".

Presumably these women all knew that going to the police would be fruitless when they were being stalked by Lane. 13 women independently all concluding the same thing about their local police force.

It really does speak volumes about the utter lack of confidence that women have in the police.

The police quote in the DM article says ‘we encourage victims to talk to us ‘.

Well stop fucking fining them then you misogynist arseholes

JFC

Yup. And people wonder why Germaine Greer says men hate us.

It's truly despicable.

People wonder why women don't approach the police for help when they are stalked, or raped, or assaulted, or harassed. This is why. We aren't listen to. We aren't supported. We aren't protected. We are blamed, disbelieved, and put into impossible positions by the establishments that are supposed to stop this from happening, while abusers are left to carry on until they kill us.

fined for wasting police time. Before being murdered. FUCK

Jesus. This is grim. Then we see women questioned for tweets while this shit goes on.

The police force nationwide does not seem fit for purpose. The constant refrain of 'learning lessons' means zilch. It carries on and on.
Of course it doesn't help that the money for policing the country has been reduced to a tiny amount.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/shana-grice-murder-stalking-police-sussex-a8862611.html

This piece in the independent describes how Shana Grice was fined for wasting police time. Before being murdered. FUCK

I'm really sorry that happened to you, NicksWife.

As much as I am appalled with Sussex Police for the way this was handled, they are certainly not the only force with serious failures when it comes to protecting women.

The independent investigation report into the death of Alice Ruggles in Gateshead in 2016 was recently published, pointing out numerous failings in the approach of the police (and the army given that her killer was a soldier) from becoming aware of stalking behaviour. There needs to be a serious overhaul in the way the police throughout the country deal with the scared and vulnerable women who come to them for help.

https://www.alicerugglestrust.org/post/domestic-homicide-review-published

Awful

Those poor women, and hearing Michelle's pregnant sister's call to the police was heartbreaking

Sussex police aren't fit for purpose. I'm so angry, we are half the population - we matter!