All police forces will introduce specialist rape and sexual
offence investigation teams to hunt down perpetrators, under
sweeping reforms announced today by the Home Secretary.
As part of the government's Violence against Women and Girls
Strategy due to be launched later this week, the full power of
the state will be deployed in the largest crackdown on violence
perpetrated against women and girls in British history.
This will see specialist investigators apprehend, investigate and
lock up rapists and sex offenders across the country.
Devastatingly, on average, every day, 200 rapes are recorded by
the police – and more go unreported.
Offenders of these vile crimes are among the most prolific and
dangerous criminals in our society. Yet the tools and tactics
used by law enforcement to pursue them are outdated, too often
leaving men and boys to wreak havoc without any consequence.
The dedicated rape and sexual offence specialist investigators,
deployed in every police force in England and Wales, will replace
an outdated system, where officers often did not have the
specialist knowledge to investigate rapists and sex offenders,
leaving predators to walk the streets.
The Home Secretary has instructed all police forces to bring in
these dedicated specialist teams to better support victims and
relentlessly pursue perpetrators.
Home Secretary said:
This government has declared violence against women and girls a
national emergency.
For too long, these crimes have been considered a fact of life.
That's not good enough. We will halve it in a decade.
Today we announce a range of measures to bear down on abusers,
stopping them in their tracks. Rapists, sex offenders and abusers
will have nowhere to hide.
Domestic Abuse Protection Orders will also be rolled out across
England and Wales, placing mandatory curfews, electronic tagging,
exclusion zones and notification requirements on abusers, with
offenders who break orders facing up to five years in jail.
These pioneering orders cover all forms of domestic abuse
including economic abuse, coercive and controlling behaviour,
stalking and ‘honour'-based abuse and, with no maximum time
limits placed on the orders, victims can be provided with
protection for as long as they need.
A new crack team of online operatives will be deployed to use
covert and intelligence techniques to tackle violence against
women and girls online tackling preparators. With nearly £2
million investment, a brand-new network of officers will have the
technical capability to target the most technologically
sophisticated offenders.
This builds on the Home Office's successful undercover network on
child sexual abuse that has arrested over 1,700 perpetrators.
The measures set out today are essential as the government pushes
forward on its unprecedented mission to halve the issue within a
decade.
This builds on action already being taken, including launching
facial recognition technology to help police apprehend dangerous
predators, including sex offenders, and bringing in Raneem's Law
to embed domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms.
Last year, the Home Office also announced a raft of measures to
tackle stalking and provide greater support to victims, including
giving women the right to know the identity of their online
stalker and making strangulation a criminal offence, as part of
the Crime and Policing Bill.
