The recent rape of a jogger in London's Regent's Park at 7am was shocking enough, but the fact that the police did not alert other park users that there was a rapist in the area makes this even worse. This failure by the @MetPoliceUK put people at risk and completely undermines the public's confidence in the police.
I want to pay tribute to the good citizen who brought this lack of action on the part of the Met to the public's attention. Over my years of working with these kinds of crime I have found that it is when the victim, their family or community members come forward that action is taken. This shouldn't be the case, all incidents like this should be dealt with by the police in a robust manner, leaving no stone unturned to find the perpetrator. The Met is already struggling with extremely poor victim confidence levels and these kinds of crucial mistakes do not help. I'm calling on the Met to investigate why notice wasn't given to park users and to make sure that this kind of mistake does not happen again.
Victim satisfaction in London is rated amongst the poorest in the country. According to the latest Met Police figures, 74% of victims were satisfied with the service they received - this places London 43rd out of 43 forces nationally.
After five years of steady decline, over the four years of Boris Johnson's first term as Mayor of London rape has risen by 75% - from 1,904 reported offences in 2007-8 to 3,334 rape offences in 2011-12. Crime statistics are always difficult to analyse and rape statistics even more so, is an increase due to more offences being reported, or is the increase due to more incidents occurring? However, at City Hall's Police and Crime Committee meeting on 2 February this year, the Met's new Commissioner, Bernard Hogan-Howe, expressed doubt that an increase in reported crimes was due solely to more victims coming forward and reporting the crimes. In other words, the number of incidents is almost certainly on the rise.
As a society we need to confront rape and stamp it out, the perpetrators need to feel the full force of the law and the shockingly low conviction rates need to be dramatically increased. The police have a crucial role to play, they need to treat these issues with the utmost seriousness. The newly created Mayor's Office for Policing & Crime (MOPC) (which is responsible for running the Met) need to lead from the front on this, it is worrying that when a member of the public tried to raise this issue with them the email they sent 'bouced back' because the MOPC's inbox was full. Such a lack of attention to detail is worrying.
Follow Jennette Arnold on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jennettearnold
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The introduction of voluntary MRI interrogation could revolutionise policing. The innocent could confirm their lack of involvement. Thus freeing up the force to concentrate on other leads. Even the victim, if challenged, could validate their claim.
"we need to confront rape and stamp it out"
What could be more effective? Other than perhaps the introduction of philosophy into schools. To create an awareness of the difference between personal rendition and the actual reality of any given situation. Might it be, not the prospect of a fiery furnace. But rather, the absolute cast iron certainty of apprehension?
“it is worrying that when a member of the public tried to raise this issue with them the email they sent 'bounced back' “
Interweb petition sites exist, where concerned members of the public can aggregate their efforts with the aim of rectifying common problems.
Do men really not care about rape? It certainly looks like that on the internet. Where are the comments by men that do care?
These commenters usually start with "Rape is a horrendous crime but..." and then explain why any specific policy to improve prosecution is fundamentally misconceived. And they have yet to come across any specific policy which is not fundamentally misconceived.
Women are not stupid, we see the overall. Every single article about any aspect of rape is hit in this way. If men really don't care about rape then why not say so? Really, why?
I actually thought that the article was very badly thought out and poorly written.
If I look in your comment history am I going to find you otherwise praising articles about rape?
Or am I going to find 'Rape is a horrendous crime, but .....[insert reason here, anything you like]?
How do you know that there is a rapist in the park? They have probably moved on, just because there is a single rape doesn't mean that there is a serial rapist picking on early morning joggers.
Of course the police won't take action unless someone comes forward - how will they know about the crime if no one tells them - perhaps they should use their psychic powers
And as for trying to blame the mayor for the increase in a particular nasty type of crime is below the belt for a politician who wants to be taken seriously .... its the perpetrators that are to blame
I am disappointed that an elected politician and representative of the people has produced such a poor piece of work
So just in case the rapist has moved on, the rest of the public shouldn't have been alerted? That makes no sense.
"trying to blame the mayor"
The article clearly doesn't blame Boris. Jennette says that the MOPC need to sort themselves out and not only lead from the front, but fix blatantly unacceptable system errors like full inboxes. And she asks the question of whether the increase in reports is because more people are coming forward, or more offences are taking place. Hogan-Howe seems to think it is the latter.
Maybe you should read the article again?