Source · Select Committees · Women and Equalities Committee
Recommendation 19
19
Accepted in Part
Police treatment of intimate image abuse victims demonstrates lack of understanding and misogyny.
Recommendation
Every victim of a sexual offence deserves to be treated with respect and have their case investigated promptly and effectively by the police. However, in many cases police treatment of victims of intimate image abuse has been characterised by a lack of understanding and in some cases misogyny, with officers’ choosing to patronise victims rather than support them. This is unacceptable and must change. (Conclusion, Paragraph 103)
Government Response Summary
The government partially accepts, outlining new College of Policing guidance on online image offending, existing core learning for officers, and over £13m funding for a new National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection. This Centre will develop and deliver improved training for police officers, including a focus on non-consensual intimate image abuse.
Government Response
Accepted in Part
HM Government
Accepted in Part
Partial acceptance The College of Policing provided new guidance on online image offending (including non-consensual intimate image abuse) to forces towards the end of last year. This builds on existing core learning for police officers to equip them to investigate online offending. These programmes include learning on how offenders target vulnerable victims and the motivations for suspect behaviour, including online. There is also additional training available for specific crime types or specialist roles, which includes a focus on the use of technology in offending and a specialist course for rape and other sexual offences, testing officers’ knowledge on image offences. In addition, this Government committed to improving training for policing on VAWG, this includes online offending. As part of this, we are providing over £13m funding for a new National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection to help transform the police response to VAWG. Part of the Centre’s work will be to develop and deliver an improved package of training for police officers at all ranks as part of a Professionalising Public Protection Programme. The Home Office will be working closely with the Centre to ensure that new training initiatives meet the needs of victims and cover all areas of VAWG offending, including non-consensual intimate image abuse. Through our funding, we expect the Centre to utilise academic expertise and engage closely with the sector, including the RPH, to inform their training. We are also exploring further opportunities for this work with policing and wider government.