Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime Response to Latest Police Super Complaint

On 7 August 2020 the HMICFRS received a super-complaint from the Tees Valley Inclusion Project (TVIP).

It is about the police response to victims of sexual abuse from ethnic minority backgrounds who may be at risk of honour-based abuse:-

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/police-super-complaints-police-response-to-bame-victims-of-sexual-abuse

It also makes other recommendations, including:

• the National Police Chiefs’ Council, which is currently reviewing data standards for the recording of all protected characteristics, should take the super-complaint into account when proposing changes to address the lack of recorded ethnicity data; and
• police and crime commissioners should ensure that their consultations before commissioning victims’ services are fully inclusive and represent all community views. They should then work with local police, safeguarding partners and support organisations to properly understand victims’ needs.

West Yorkshire Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, Alison Lowe OBE is also a national APCC joint lead for Equality, Diversity and Human Rights. She said:

“The testimonies of victims within this super-complaint paint a worrying picture around the level of service received, but having seen our local submission to this report, I know that we are well placed in West Yorkshire to respond to each of the recommendations.

“The report rightly calls for greater consistency in the police approach to safeguarding victims of honour-based abuse, and there must be a sustained drive to raise awareness among officers and staff, ensuring it is appropriately managed and quickly identified.

“Data recording around ethnicity is key to achieving this, however; as our Force is currently graded ‘outstanding’ for crime recording, I am confident we are in a strong position to lead the way nationally.”