Response to police call for specialist rape units

Responding to today’s call from the Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police John Yates for all police forces to set up a specialist unit to investigate rape allegations, the End Violence Against Women's rights's rightss rights's rights's rights's rights Campaign Manager Holly Dustin said:

“Specialist police rape units could certainly be a step in the right direction in raising the atrociously low conviction rates for reported rape, but far more still needs to be done.

“When an Amnesty opinion poll in 2005 can show that a third of the general public blames a ‘flirtatious’ woman for being raped, then it’s abundantly clear that new police units will never be enough.

“We need to see dedicated funding for specialist services like rape crisis centres as well as a government-led campaign to challenge prejudicial attitudes. This should all come under the umbrella of an integrated government strategy to combat all forms of violence against Women's rights's rightss rights's rights's rights's rights.”

Last week a YouGov opinion poll commissioned by EVAW showed that more than eight out of ten people (84%) agree that there should be a cross-government strategy to end violence against Women's rights's rightss rights's rights's rights's rights.

The EVAW campaign also blamed a “fractured response” from the government and public bodies for a failure to adequately tackle violence against Women's rights's rightss rights's rights's rights's rights in the UK as it published a “template” of what an integrated strategy from the government would entail.