The police seem to be unwilling to investigate allegations of rape. Why?

[Solopower]

It seems that the police are still not taking rape seriously as a crime. Either they don't believe the victim, or they just think it would be too difficult to prove - but why are they letting (mainly) women down like this?
www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jun/08/metropolitan-police-rape-victims-detective-arrested?newsfeed=true

MARGERY I AM NOT TELLING RAPE VICTIMS HOW THEY SHOULD FEEL! I AM UPDATING THE RESULTS OF A LIAR. YOU HAVE BEEN DISGUSTINGINGLY NASTY AND CRUEL TO ME AND STILL WHEN YOU ARE WRONG CONTINUE TO DO IT AS YOU CANT TAKE THE TRUTH. YOU PROBABLY DONT HAVE ANY CHILDREN SO YOU CANT POSSIBLY UNDERSTAND WHEN ONE OF THEM IS FALSELY ACCUSED. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ME NOT SUPPORTING RAPE VICTIMS IM JUST NOT SUPPORTING LIARS!

The best thing you can do now is help your son not to have a 'low opinion of females'. You can teach him that this is just one woman and it is very rare for women to make false accusations. Hopefully this will help him in the future rather than keep him feeling bitter and negative towards women in general. As a mother you owe him that.

DuelingFanjo yes i agree and that is one of my fears that he never trusts a girl again and they are not all the same but time will heal i expect. thankyou

anyhow im off tonight to celebrate with my family and see my son smile again and nobody on here will stop me. case closed

Alison you are the one who has had posts deleted on this thread for personal attacks on other posters including me.

You are spreading rape myths and are undermining rape victims.

And as for your 'you must not have children' comment that is just weird. This is called MUMS net!

like i said margery, jusctice has been served the girl has admitted it, so please go about your day! goodbye i do not wish to hear ur idiotic views anymore where you think evrybody is guilty before it has even been investigated. your sick not me.

i have an appointment today at the girls school with the police to tell them what sort of girl they have in there now so must dash. not interested in what you have to say as its just bullying as far as im concerned.

I have to say that I find it bizarre in the extreme that a poster stumbles upon an old thread concerning rape and the lack of police interest and BUMPS it up into active before then launching personal attacks on pretty much everyone and doesn't post anywhere else on MN.

I am pretty sure she has posted elsewhere, Dwasn't there another thread? Maybe with a slight name change? perhaps I am imagining it and it was this one?

No other posts under this particular shouty name.

Not that I particularly give a shit.

I haven't seen the deleted comments but I have to say Alison sounds pretty genuine.

What I do find disturbing though is the lack of empathy from other women who obviously have no real clue as to the specifics of the case, yet attacking a mother who understandably is beside herself.

Telling her that most women don't lie is simply utter stupid and is totally ignorant. Most people don't steal. Most people don't murder. Does that mean we take those who accuse others of doing so on their word? Do we now have trial by mumsnet?

Like I said earlier, I was once arrested for theft. I can tell you now I didn't do it but it didn't stop the police from breaking down my door in the morning, arresting me, searching my house and putting me in a cell before questioning me. Their 'evidence' was purely circumstantial.

Once you've been sat in a cell for hours for a crime you didn't commit I suspect your position on innocent before being proven guilty will change.

PS. I'm glad it all worked out for you Alison

Erm, There is no way the police would be going with you to the girls school to tell them what a nasty liar she is. That would be a massive breach of all sorts of laws. It simply would not happen; particularly since the child is underage and this would be considered a child protection issue since false allegations usually imply one of two things: the child is being raped by someone else and panicked and named someone she wasn't frightened of [which is incredibly common] or she has severe mental health issues. Either way, it would be classed as none of your business and if a police officer did accompany you to the school, they could be looking a professional misconduct case.

difficult to get convictions on so called date rape.

Shirley- what do we call those posters here? Doesn't begin with R or S

Oh no Margery - you don't catch me out that easily.

It seems to be pretty common practice for rape investigations to be negligent, which of course means they won't get to trial. In my case they botched my statement throughout, which I asked to be changed, which made them angry - is it too much to expect police to do their job?!

There were various other mess ups which completely messed up the investigation and allowed the suspect to be be fully fore-warned and prepared,he knows it's me who made the complaint, and this is ongoing; he's now on holiday, then the investigator is on holiday. How relaxing for them. It's two months since I gave the statement and they still haven't interviewed the suspect although he works from home, and he's known to me including address, phone number etc.

I put in a full complaint to the police dept, followed it up with a phone call, and they are assigning a more senior investigator. I will still be meeting with my local MP to discuss this however.

The anger I feel about the rape, and all the trauma that accompanies it, is now increased by the sense of powerlessness this investigation has caused. Therefore I am using that anger as effectively as I can. The fact that women have channelled their anger assertively and effectively is the reason rape laws have been changed for the better. It's not enough to rant, though that helps, we can also all help change the way rape is dealt with.

Lastly, the two initial police officers who took the first report were excellent, and I let the police dept know that.

I take the point that rape is difficult to prove, it's often hearsay without hard evidence, therefore it will not go to trial.

However, I feel that some commenters here are perhaps unaware of the lax service the police provide in terms of investigation.

Any rape victim who reports rape to the police deserves a decent, professional investigation, but that actually rarely happens. Senior police will only be appointed to a rape case if it involves a child, or there is clear evidence of violence and no confusion in terms of the rape (for example if it was committed by a husband or someone known) and whether or not is is 'historical'. Historical rapes are those in which the rape victim did not complain immediately so there is no forensic evidence.

Speaking for my own experience, it was 'historical', involving someone I've known for 20 or more years, and there was no hard evidence, only hearsay.

Let me be clear - I did not expect it to go to trial, given the circumstances and no hard evidence. However, that does not mean that my case should not be thoroughly investigated. It does not mean that junior incompetent police officers should be assigned to my case, and it should not mean that questioning of the suspect does not take place until 6 months later, even though the suspect was available at home, 99 percent of that 6 months.

It should not take two formal complaints to my local MP over 8 months, to have the police actually meet and speak with me about the lax investigation, and, when they have clearly acknowledged the police officer was junior and incompetent, they should have disciplined that police officer, in the same way that I myself would fully expect to be given a warning if I did not do my job.

I am deeply damaged by the experience. I am moving from my home city because this has ruined my career and social life. It has left me with a sense of anger and mistrust that I don't think will be healed, however much therapy I receive.

Until you, or someone you know has experienced police incompetency, or until you have researched the many, many cases in which women have not received justice, you cannot comment with authority on this subject.

I wonder if more rape cases could be brought to trial as a group. Often there is a pattern of offending in which com

Sorry mispost. A pattern of offending in which allegations of assault or rape are made. If they were all properly investigated and recorded then perhaps even if individually it was one person's word against another then maybe they could be tried together. One rape allegation might be a false accusation but you would have to be very unlucky to have several from peo

People who didnt know one another. Perhaps this is one way of making it beyond reasonable doubt. Many serial offenders seem to get away with it because the individual allegations dont seem to have enough evidence to go to trial and no one links them together. Many apologies for multiple posts from dodgy phone.

Outragious! I wonder how long this has been happening. I wonder whether the cuts have contributed or caused this to happen.

Police and rape? Because on date rape they know it will be almost impossible to get a conviction. On stranger rape I suspect the police are different

RAPE is difficult to prove if it is date rape. The police want succesful prosecutions