Responding to the Met Police’s announcement that all rape investigations will now be handled by a centralised unit, Jenny Jones has questioned whether this is the right answer. The Met’s announcement followed the conviction of John Worboys, and the revelation that hundreds of rape allegations had not been classed as crimes by London borough forces.
"It seems to me that the problem isn’t who is doing the investigation but whether every officer is committed to the thorough investigation of every allegation in the first place, and has the resources to carry it out. By saying that only a specialised unit can be trusted to investigate rapes, the Met seems to be admitting that it has failed to ensure all officers have learnt from past failings."
"Rape victims aren’t necessarily going to report what happened to a high profile centralised team, in many cases they will go to their local police station. Unless every officer knows how to initiate these investigations, we are still going to get cases of this terrible crime being ignored."