Report on the Centre for Women’s Justice super-complaint published today
The report published today by the triumvirate body examining police super-complaints has found that many of the extremely concerning issues identified in the Centre for Women’s Justice super-complaint are borne out in a detailed study and 140 page report; ‘the most extensive inquiry’ into this issue ever undertaken in England and Wales’.
Amongst some of the most concerning failings identified, the report finds:
- Only 6 out of 104 women who reported police perpetrated domestic abuse (PPDA) would feel confident to report again
- Only 9% of reported PPDA cases resulted in criminal charging
- 39% of the files reviewed of criminal investigations were inadequate
- Only 40% of cases of PPDA reported resulted in any misconduct investigation, a staggering 75 cases from a sample of 122 had no misconduct investigation
- Only 8 cases out of the sample of 122 were referred to the IOPC
These findings confirm many of the concerns raised by CWJ in our police super-complaint submitted in March 2020 based on 19 case studies and 6 accounts from domestic abuse workers. CWJ has now been contacted by 165 women whose accounts include not only failures to investigate but also conduct amounting to corruption and, at its worst, the criminalisation and victimisation of some victims who report. Whilst the super-complaint outcome report has not found substantiated evidence to prove corruption and collusion in the police files they examined, some of their evidence clearly suggests it exists, and they accept that the absence of objective evidence does not mean the practice or harm is not occurring.
Whilst the super-complaint report makes a series of recommendations for reform, it falls short of endorsing many of CWJ’s proposed improvements to the system, including referring the investigation of all reports of domestic abuse by a police officer to an external police force, although it does recommend this might be appropriate in some circumstances.
The super-complaint report recognises the particular problems faced by police officer victims who report fellow police officers for domestic abuse, and the fact that they have fewer rights than civilian victims, especially no right of appeal to the IOPC.
As ‘Vicky’ one survivor stated,
“After I reported I didn’t get any victim support at all. I was not given a crime reference number and I didn’t receive any updates. It’s like you’re a police officer and therefore not seen as a member of the public, as a victim of crime. I was made to feel like a pest.”
Another survivor, ‘Jennifer’, said,
“I feel like finally our voices are being heard. I don’t know if I have faith in change happening, but if there is going to be change now is the time to do it”.
Nogah Ofer, solicitor at CWJ and author of the original super-complaint said,
“We welcome the detailed investigation and consideration of the issues we have raised in this super-complaint. We are however disappointed that the recommendations for reform fall short of making the changes we believe are imperative to create a system that can foster trust and confidence for survivors and the public”
Harriet Wistrich, Director of CWJ stated,
“We are pleased that the lid is now lifted into the scandal of police perpetrated domestic abuse and the failures to tackle it. However, shortcomings in the super-complaint process of investigation mean that some of the most egregious accounts of corruption have not been investigated. For this reason we maintain our call for a statutory public inquiry into police perpetrated abuse”
See CWJ’s briefing on the report - Briefing on super-complaint outcome.pdf