Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary will be implementing the Operation Soteria Bluestone National Operating Model, a transformational change program tackling rape and serious sexual offences across the region.
It comes after the Home Secretary has announced that all 43 forces in England and Wales have signed up to Operation Soteria which will ensure that rape and serious sexual offence investigations are victim-centered, suspect-focused and context-led.
Launched in 2021 as part of the government’s end-to-end Rape Review Operation Soteria is a Home Office-funded research and change programme, led by the National Police Chiefs’ Council.
The collaborative programme, which initially bought together 19 police forces and academics to understand and tackle the challenges seen in rape and serious sexual offences investigations, will allow police officers to conduct suspect, rather than victim-focused, investigations and better support victims of these crimes.
Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary, along with other forces, will also gain access to a bespoke hub which will include guidance on identifying and disrupting repeat offenders, support to improve decision making processes, assets to progress cases more effectively, enable forces to better meet the needs of victims, and ensure investigative focus shifts to the actions of the suspect.
As one of the expansion forces on Operation Soteria Bluestone, the force completed a review of their force approach in 2022 and an improvement plan is now in place. Since signing up to the change programme in October last year, the Constabulary has seen:
- A gradual increase in the number of solved Rape and other Sexual offences
- Closer co-operation with the Crown Prosecution Service to achieve greater procedural justice
- 500 investigators and supervisors begin to take part in a new investigative skills development programme.
Temporary Detective Superintendent David West, said:
“As an Operation Soteria Bluestone expansion force, we have benefited from the support of partners, peers and academics over the past year to understand how we can and must improve our response to rape and other sexual offences.
Article continues below this advertisement “We have taken an open, honest and critical look at our organisational culture and the way we work, reflecting upon the voiced concerns of victim-survivors, the direction of academics and our wider partners across the Criminal Justice System.
“Transformational change is required to achieve the much needed and evidence improvements to this hugely challenging and complex area of crime.
“Our improvement plan has been developed over the last 6 months and commands the trust and confidence of our key partners, Yellow Door (Victim Advocacy), Treetops Sexual Assault Health Referral Centre (SARC) and the Crown Prosecution Service.
“Together we are committed to providing a timely, effective response to rape and other sexual offences, delivered by skilled, whole story informed sexual violence responders and investigators. Bringing more offenders to justice, improving public protection and increasing confidence amongst victim-survivors.
“We will do so by ensuring we are victim centered, suspect focused and context led through fair and balanced investigations.
“As a demonstration of our commitment to learn and improve, we continue to invite victim-survivors to take part in an anonymous survey to share their experience of police investigations and the criminal justice process”
All old farts should be put down
Like father, like son, eh Westy?
Try opening your eyes to who is causing most of these crimes in the UK now, remove the blinkers or likely, sunglasses.
As always, plenty of groups to offer ‘sympathy’ to the victim, but NO stronger deterrents such as doubling the sentences for such crimes.
The comment “ …Isle of Wight Constabulary, along with other forces, will also gain access to a bespoke hub which will include guidance on identifying and disrupting repeat offender…..
‘Disrupting’ REPEAT offenders, thus virtually telling us that these vile beings won’t be locked away for long enough to make them ‘reconsider’ their vile ways.
Since masse enrichment the level of these crimes are growing to unacceptable levels, and perhaps authorities should address such first before just providing ‘a comforting suite and soft spoken shrink’
Remove the genitals of repeat offenders
Yellow door don’t offer their counselling services to the Isle of Wight though. I’ve had to pay privately at £20 per hour, per week for 2 years so far. My case is still under investigation 5 years after first reporting to the police. I’ve had literally 8 months of no contact from the police, and my attacker is still walking around- and has since been accused of doing it again. Where’s the justice?
Hoping you get the justice you deserve.
If he did anything to any of my family he 100% would not be walking around
Hope you get this sorted very soon
So sorry for this. Stay strong and I sincerely hope you get justice
Conviction rate for rapists is at 0.1% in the UK. That’s just for reported rapes and sexual assaults. Half of all of those offences go unreported. Making rape practically legal in this country. The way that the police conduct the investigations is awful and traumatizing for the victim, the victim is under investigation not the perpetrator. They’ve now decided that they’re changing this, admitting that they have messed up loads of cases for true victims in the past. But don’t worry they’re assuring the public they’ll do better what a joke.
the basis cannot change “innocent until proven guilty” and those making accusations have to expect summary justice if found to be lying through their teeth – which does happen.
those being accused, need to also have their account believed with the same level of conviction by the law, as those making claims of being a victim at the outset, to ensure that innocent until proven guilty is the starting point for all investigations. Anything less is bias against the accused before any evidence has been found.
the law cannot simply take someones word and categorise someone as a suspect, without grounds to do so.
Anyone that votes down that excellent, common sense and real world response by islander, should be subjected to an accusation of a crime that they haven’t committed and be arrested, locked up and kept there, despite no evidence being presented and an assumption of guilty until proven innocent being applied to them.
Once they have finished crying in the cell, panicking and mentally broken, because no one believes they are innocent, because they simply took the word of someone else, without backing it up with evidence, perhaps they would like to revisit their decision and vote up the response by islander.
it is easy to look down your nose, until you are on the receiving end of an accusation, which is false.
Good grief. Who thinks up this bullsh**? All these ridiculous words. Plain old common sense should be enough. Look at your own officer’s conduct first please