Violent crime against women gets the same status as terrorist attacks
Fiona Hamilton, Crime Editor
Monday November 22 2021, 12.01am, The Times
Since the murder of Sarah Everard there has been concern about the response to violent crimes against women
Violence against women and girls will be elevated to the same status as terrorism under a proposed government directive, The Times has learnt.
Chief constables will be mandated to increase resources and combine capabilities in a drastic effort to drive up rape convictions, which have reached historically low levels.
Violence against women and girls is set to be added to the strategic policing requirement, meaning that police will be required by government to treat it as a major priority. It is an acknowledgement by ministers that there is an epidemic of violence against women that needs to be one of the most urgent national crimefighting priorities.
There has been a national outcry about the response to levels of violence against women since the Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens abused his powers to abduct, rape and murder Sarah Everard in March.
Police faced criticism for their response after the onus was placed on women to check the credentials of officers who spoke to them on the street.
Government announcements such as placing undercover police officers in nightclub districts were criticised as not robust enough.
In 2019-20 57,000 rapes were reported to police but there were only 1,109 convictions, the lowest in history. Three quarters of domestic abuse cases result in no further action. The majority of stalking and harassment offenders have escaped prosecution in recent years, instead handed informal punishments such as rehabilitation courses or an apology to the victim.
The Home Office will add violence against women and girls to the strategic policing requirement, a national initiative that sets out what resources police forces must deploy to respond effectively to specific crimes. It means that female violence has been elevated to an urgent national priority alongside terrorism, serious and organised crime and child sexual abuse.
Policing priorities are published annually by the home secretary. The requirements that will be placed on forces to tackle violence against women and girls are unclear.
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However, the focus of the requirement is to ensure forces work in collaboration to tackle shared threats, and that adequate amounts of money and manpower are focused on the most serious criminal issues.
The proposed directive came after police forces were accused of a “male brotherhood” culture that ignored female violence and harassment.
Dame Vera Baird, the victims commissioner, claimed last week that police were protective of each other because of male “bonding” and said that rape investigation units looked into the credibility of complainants more than the offences of perpetrators. She told senior officers at a conference that offenders were emboldened by the “essentially male brotherhood culture” in policing.
Maggie Blyth, the deputy chief constable of Hampshire police and the new national police lead for violence against women and girls, said police forces would put a “relentless focus on perpetrators”.
She said that trust between women and the police had been “broken through some of the tragic events of the last few weeks and months”. She said a “perpetrator-focused approach” to disrupt and track sex offenders would help to restore confidence."
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