One in eight posts for police officers in England and Wales specialising in rape and serious sexual offences (Rasso) remain unfilled, figures obtained by the Guardian suggest.
The gaps in staffing come amid continuing concern over Rasso prosecution and conviction rates. There were 70,633 rapes recorded by police in the year to September last year but only 459 convictions in the 2022 calendar year.
The Guardian sent freedom of information requests to all 43 police forces in England and Wales asking them how many vacancies they had for specialist Rasso officers on 1 June. From the 23 usable responses, the proportion of unfilled posts ranged from zero to two in five.
In May, a coroner at the inquest into the death of a woman who fell off a bridge four months after reporting a rape expressed concern, in a prevention of future deaths report, that 40 detectives in Devon and Cornwall police were working on 600 cases in January, while there were 22 vacancies. The senior coroner Andrew Cox said: “This is bound to have an impact on the amount or quality of work that can be done.”
Deniz Uğur, the deputy director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), said the results showed that police forces “are not prioritising tackling sexual violence”.
“Rape and other sexual offences are highly traumatic for victims and survivors, and disproportionately perpetrated against women and girls, so they require a specialist and sensitive response,” she said.
“Too often, this is not the case, and victims find themselves within a system unequipped to support them where they face not being taken seriously or even being blamed for what has happened to them.
“This is compounded by forces losing vital expertise in investigating and prosecuting sexual violence, with funding cuts resulting in the closure of many specialist Rasso units.”
Cumbria police had the highest vacancy rate, with the equivalent of 2.11 out of five, followed by Dorset, with 28.77 unfilled posts out of 82.4 for officers specialising in adult Rasso offences. Dorset police said they anticipated 16.95 would be filled in September. In 2021, the Guardian revealed that at least two-fifths of forces did not have a specialist Rasso unit.
The Home Office has recently rolled out Operation Soteria, which pushes police and prosecutors to focus investigations on suspects rather than complainants’ credibility, to all forces. However, it has been criticised for the lack of specialist understanding among officers.
Jayne Butler, the chief executive of Rape Crisis England and Wales, said a “critical time” had been reached in how Rasso offences are investigated and prosecuted. “With the recent launch of the national operating model from Operation Soteria, it is crucial that a victim-centred, suspect-focused and context-led practice is now embedded across all police forces,” she said. “But, as a minimum, for this to embed effectively there needs to be a sufficient amount of Rasso officers in post … The reform urgently needed is not possible if those resources are not there.”
The largest force, the Met, had 84 vacancies out of 601. It said it expected that “more officers will fulfil the vacant roles and the targets may be modified as the year progresses”. Eight forces said they could not provide the information requested, of which five said it was because they did not have a specialist Rasso team/officers, although others without a Rasso unit still provided figures.
The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, repeated Labour’s pledge of a Rasso unit in every force, saying: “These figures show women across the country who’ve experienced the worst of crimes are being badly let down.”
The chief constable Sarah Crew, National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead for rape and adult sexual offences, said Operation Soteria was “a huge step forward” adding: “Dealing with rape more effectively is not solved just by having a specialist team but rather having highly skilled and trained officers, access to new investigative techniques and close links with independent sexual violence advisers and the Crown Prosecution Service. We are committed to making this a reality for every victim across the country.
“From April 2024, a refreshed specialist sexual assault investigators development programme will be introduced to share and reinforce the learnings from Operation Soteria. It will be compulsory for new recruits to undertake rape and sexual offences training, which will also be rolled out to all existing first responders.”
