Low rape charge rates concern

ONLY eight percent of rapes reported to Avon & Somerset Police are leading to charges being brought.

Chief Constable Sarah Crew told a meeting of the force's performance and accountability board that it was actually double the number of charges from the previous year but was "not enough".

In the year to April, she said the force brought 141 rape charges, more than double the 69 brought in 2021/22.

Ms Crew said: "We are now in the top quartile for positive outcome rates for rape and serious sexual offences, having been previously bottom quartile 24 months ago."

The meeting heard the number of sexual offences and domestic abuse crimes recorded across the last year has gone down but it was not clear whether this was due to "proactive and preventative work undertaken" or a loss of confidence in the police which is deterring victims from reporting.

The chief constable said: “Increasing trust and confidence is our top priority as an organisation."

Ms Crew is the National Police Chiefs’ Lead for Adult Sex Offences and the police force ran a pilot scheme of a new approach to rape cases, Operation Soteria Bluestone, in 2021.

It involved the creation of a specialist rape investigation team, improved collaboration with victim support services, and a focus on perpetrator behaviour rather than on the credibility of victims.

The approach is now being rolled out in police forces across the country.

The chief constable said: “We believe that what we are learning from Soteria Bluestone has the potential to improve our response to all male violence against women and girls offences.

"The dynamics are the same and, actually, the problems in rape that we are starting to overcome are the most difficult.”

By John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporting Service