Exclusive: Catalogue of flaws in police sex crime inquiries

A CATALOGUE of problems has been uncovered at Yorkshire's largest police force after figures showed its performance in solving cases of rape and other serious sexual assaults was "poor and declining".

West Yorkshire Police, whose officers cleared up only about one in five serious sexual offences last year, has carried out an urgent review of its approach to inquiries.

The internal inspection found the quality of the force's investigations varied from case to case, with some inquiries being carried out by officers with limited experience of catching sex offenders. Other flaws identified, which were described as "worrying and disappointing" by a rape victim support charity, included confusion over the force's "corporate focus", a lack of understanding among staff, and "performance management" problems which meant "what gets managed, gets done".

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Deputy Chief Constable David Crompton commissioned the inspection after data revealed that only two forces in England and Wales had a worse record for bringing serious sex offenders to justice. Its findings are published in a report which will be considered later this month by members of West Yorkshire Police Authority's strategic planning and performance committee.

The report reveals West Yorkshire charged, cautioned, summonsed, reprimanded or fined offenders in 21.5 per cent of the serious sex cases it investigated between December 2008 and November 2009 – well below similar sized forces like South Wales (45.6 per cent), Lancashire (37.0) and South Yorkshire (28.7).

"Performance data shows that detections peaked in November 2007 at around 26 per cent," the report states, "but have declined steadily whilst forces in the most similar group have shown improvements."

The review found that a victim abused by a relative would be supported by specialist child protection officers, for instance, while a child abused by a neighbour might only be seen by a police constable with limited experience and competing demands on their time.

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Similarly, cases where a victim was raped by a stranger could be investigated differently to those where the victim was attacked by someone they knew.

A board member of the charity Rape Crisis, Katie Russell, said: the findings of the review were very worrying "but unfortunately not massively surprising".

"We know that the handling of rape and sexual offences varies from force to force around the country and also from case to case. There is a general lack of consistency in systems and practice but if this report highlights that confusion, and means that something gets done about it, that is a positive thing.

"Particularly alarming is the way that acquaintance rapes are dealt with, as statistics show that about 85 per cent of women who are raped are raped by somebody they know."

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Labour MP for Keighley Ann Cryer, who questioned the Solicitor General last month about low prosecution rates in rape cases, said: "It takes a lot of guts for a woman to prosecute and if she feels she isn't being taken seriously by an officer or that the officer doesn't know what they are talking about or that their case isn't being treated sympathetically, she may pull out because it is such a traumatic experience.

"Unfortunately, in pulling out, she could be sentencing another woman to similar treatment from the attacker."

The report reveals the number of rapes recorded in West Yorkshire has risen by 10 per cent since 2005-06, and suggests this could be because victims have had more confidence in reporting crimes since the force set up a specialist rape investigation unit, Operation Topaz.

The manager of the Star Project which supports rape victims in West Yorkshire, Barbara Siedlecki, said: "Before Operation Topaz, we were getting complaints about people not doing things properly and victims not being taken seriously, but that has totally gone now."

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A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said the force was already concentrating more resources in this area of sex crimes.

He added: "We maintain a strong commitment to the victims of sex offences, treating them compassionately and professionally, at the same time ensuring we do all we can to bring offenders to justice."