The results of a survey of 5,436 people (with approximately 3,000 analysed) who experienced sexual assault between July 2023 and June 2024 were released on Tuesday. It revealed that only 1/10 would report a sexual assault to the police should it occur again, despite approximately 80 percent reporting the previous incident. Furthermore, 73 percent reported worsened mental health due to experiences with the police. “I am more traumatised by the experience of being investigated for my own rape, than I am by the rape itself… I will never trust the police again,” one respondent said. It is this that Operation Soteria, behind the report, seeks to address.
Operation Soteria is designed to tackle the “national threat” of violence against women and girls and refocus investigations around perpetrators’ actions, rather than survivors’ credibility. Therefore, the survey focuses on survivors’ priorities and their experiences with the police and support services, and the mental health impact of both.
The survey found that most (49.6 percent) survivors’ priority was “To keep others safe”, whereas only 37.8 percent reported it “[s]o the perpetrator faces consequences”. Accordingly, 89 percent of survivors found that “Stopping perpetrator doing it again” was extremely important, compared to only 56.5 percent placing the same importance on conviction. The majority of those who did not report the assault (52.6 percent) found that “Embarrassment or shame” was their main reason.
The respondents’ experiences with the police were a focus of the survey. 53.5 percent found that their overall experience with the police was “worse than expected”, with 45.2 percent strongly disagreeing that “Police in my case are doing a good job overall”. 41.3 percent found that police never “Understood what this was like for me”. 46 percent of those who had filed a report are yet to receive help and one in five state they have felt police pressure to withdraw.
However, this demonstrates slight progress; for example, last year’s respondents were 8 percent more likely to report mental health damage. The Operation was enacted in 2023, and this may indicate it is working. As stated by the report’s lead researcher and government advisor on rape, Katrin Hohl, “Some victims are getting better service now, but not all… There are green shoots but there is clearly a long way to go”. Jess Phillips, Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, echoed this, calling the findings “stark” and showing police response “still isn’t good enough”, but finding some improvement.
The report identifies societal victim-blaming, institutionalised racism, and ableism as factors affecting experiences, with survivors of intimate partner assault, individuals from ethnic minority groups, and those with physical disabilities reporting some of the worst treatment. They furthermore find that officers can be found to be “routinely trivialising” reports by teenagers. As Chief Constable Sarah Crew found, “It shows that some officers are still only covering the basics. Disadvantage, discrimination and contextual incompetence are still being found…”.
Funding for the programme is set to cease in March 2025, however, police funding for 2025-2026 will likely be finalised in December. Lady Helen Newlove, the interim Victims’ Commissioner, has called for its extension, stating, “I am concerned that withdrawing funding, right when it is still taking root, risks jeopardising tangible progress”.
