To: Len Duvall, Chair, MPA
and MPA members Cindy Butts and Nicky Gavron
We are writing about the current MPA consultation on Met Police priorities, conducted by Dialogue by Design, to which we have contributed before.
The format of this year’s consultation stifles responses from people who do not agree with the overall agenda being put forward. We cannot therefore send in our views within the provided format, and write instead with our objections.
Looking for a category on rape/domestic violence, we found it buried under category letter I (ninth), “Violent and gun crime”. Associating rape with gun and knife crime is misleading – though always violent, rape is usually committed by a man the woman or girl knows, most often without a knife or gun. Rather than demanding out-of-the-ordinary measures, women’s main demand is for the highest standard of investigation and protection of victims from retaliation as would be expected in dealing with any serious crime.
In the media, the Met Police (for example, Assistant Commissioner John Yates) has said that investigating rape and domestic violence is a priority. Yet in this consultation, it is completely hidden. It should be present as a distinct category to reflect women’s concerns – which are shared by many men, starting with friends and relatives of women and girls who have been raped.
Given the national conviction rate for rape of only 5.6% of rapes which are reported and then classed as a crime (up to one-third of reports are “no-crimed”), the police and CPS have both stated their intention to improve investigation and prosecution. The MPA has commented on the significant numbers of men who are not investigated when women report them to the police for rape, saying the police/MPA had neglected “offender profiles”.1
The actual status accorded to investigation of rape is echoed by its invisibility in this consultation. Lack of investigation and lack of protection from violent men, including those who have been reported before, result in women’s lack of confidence in reporting further attacks.
In the 2007 consultation, anyone who wants to comment on rape and domestic violence and so selects “Violent and gun crime” as one of their three priorities, finds themselves automatically endorsing proposals on gun and knife crime, such as more police in schools (see attached webpage). (There is the “wildcard” option for topics not mentioned, but rape and domestic violence are listed, and why should a mainstream concern be characterised as a wild card?)
We do not support the current approach to crime among young people. Mothers at the Crossroads Women’s Centre where we are based, together with other parents recently complained about riot police beating up children at Hampstead School which some of our children attend, an attack which the school policeman seems to have been involved in; Black children were targeted and subjected to racist abuse. The school is pursuing a complaint against the police.
The present climate of criminalisation of young people is increasingly being challenged. Rod Morgan, former head of the Youth Justice Board, has highlighted how criminalisation is driven by bonuses for arrest rather than any concern for children’s safety or welfare.2 Children are most often victims of violence, especially rape and other sexual abuse. They should be encouraged to report and protected when they do.
We are very concerned that crimes against property, especially minor offences like graffiti, and political agendas which have little to do with tackling serious violent crime, regularly attract huge resources and are a high priority for prosecution. For example, ASBOs are enthusiastically enforced against vulnerable women with alcohol problems, young people in crisis and sex workers engaged in consenting sex. These ASBOs result in inappropriate imprisonment if they are breached.
High priorities for prosecution instead should be: rape, including of children, and in marriage; domestic violence; sexual assault, including racist sexual assault; other racist attacks; homophobic attacks; other violence against women and children. We would like to know what proportion of the Met’s budget and officer time go into rape, sexual assault and domestic violence compared to other crimes.
How can the entire consultation be valid when it is framed to deprioritise key concerns such as rape?
Yours sincerely
Claire Glasman and Lisa Longstaff
Cc Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London
Greater London Domestic Violence Project and Forum info@gldvp.org.uk
Notes