The Home Office has today announced that an inquiry will be launched to identify systemic failures within policing across England and Wales in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard.
Harriet Wistrich, Director of Centre for Women’s Justice, issued the following statement:
“Any inquiry must not be an opportunity to kick into the long grass or gloss over the clear and serious State failures around the policing of male violence against women. It is an insult to survivors, their supporters and assisting professionals to suggest that the problems have not been identified repeatedly over many years. If the government has been listening, then they already know what needs to be tackled and how. They must know that it is beyond time for systemic change.
There have been myriad investigations and claims of "lessons learnt" over the years but nothing changes and very little appears to have been learned. Indeed, worsening rape charging and convictions figures confirm things are going backwards. We need a transformation of criminal justice culture and we need proper accountability across institutions. Misogyny needs to be acknowledged and rooted out. We need to start targeting all those who present a risk to women, including so called "lower-level offenders" such as flashers.
If there is to be an inquiry into culture within the police force and wider institutions, it must be led by individuals who truly understand violence against women and the issues survivors and those working on the frontline deal with, day in and day out. Plainly, limiting an inquiry to failures around Couzens alone is a wasted opportunity.
Finally, if the government is truly committed to tackling violence against women and the State's response to it, then they would not now be talking of changing the Human Rights Act. They are aware that it is the only legal instrument by which survivors can hold the police to account for serious failures in investigations, as set out in the case challenging how John Worboys' crimes were investigated. They know this because the Metropolitan Commissioner and the Home Secretary sought to prevent the courts from confirming that the HRA imposed a duty to properly investigate rape. It is time they accept their duty and focus on fixing the problems that are preventing them from meeting their obligations.”
Centre for Women’s Justice submitted a police super-complaint in March 2020 on the failure to address police perpetrated domestic abuse. Our proposals for systemic change can be read from page 36 onwards.