Evening Standard, ES message board, 30 March 2009
WHEN my daughter was raped I convinced her to report it to the police.
They treated her well and we thought that meant we'd get justice. An IPCC report has now confirmed that the Southwark police investigation into her rape was a total disaster: evidence was lost or not gathered and the rapist wasn't arrested for months.
This and other rapes were left in the hands of unqualified and uncaring officers while resources were diverted to vehicle and property crimes.
It is not just incompetence at the bottom but deliberate decisions at the top that are to blame. My daughter was on a bus last week when 15 officers with dogs got on to check for tickets. But they couldn't find officers to arrest her attacker.
Commander Mark Simmons "apologised" after the Kirk Reid trial but days before he'd made excuses for the black cab rapist case. This makes a mockery of his apology. Assistant Commissioner John Yates now says the police need to "reinvent their response" to rape as they did for murder after Stephen Lawrence's death. But 10 years later only seven per cent of recorded racist attacks result in conviction, one per cent more than rape. (The figure is 34 per cent for other crimes.) Doreen Lawrence fought for justice for her son as I am doing for my daughter. I don't want other families to go through what we have.
Who will be sacked in the wake of these scandals? If no top policemen lose their jobs to indicate the seriousness of the Met's intent, rape will continue not to be a priority.
Sally Freeman, Women Against Rape
