‘Hotspots map’ to tackle violence against women across London
MAPS of “hotspots” of violence against women and girls in London will be published by the Met as part of a drive to target predatory men and improve safety on the streets and in homes, Sir Mark Rowley announced today.
The Met Commissioner said the “publicly available hotspot maps of violence against women and girls” in the capital would raise awareness and help his force focus its resources where offenders were most likely to try to strike.
There were no immediate details of which areas will be highlighted in the new maps or when the first will be published. But the move — revealed in an updated blueprint showing how the Met plans to overhaul its performance in the wake of recent scandals — came as Sir Mark announced a new data-driven system to identify the 100 most dangerous predators in the capital has begun operating. The list will be used by police to target suspects and either bring charges to remove them from the streets or use other methods such as protection orders. It is being compiled using the names of all men named by women over the past year as the perpetrator of any violence against women, including rape, domestic abuse and stalking.
The most dangerous offenders will be identified by calculating the gravity of each offence and the number committed by each suspect so the top 100 can be targeted. Sir Mark said other offenders would still be pursued but prioritising the most dangerous would play a significant role in reducing the threat to women. “This is using a data-led approach because tragically last year in London there were 35,000 allegations of violence against women and girls,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “That is too big a caseload to prioritise individually so we are using a clever data method to work out the most dangerous 100 and go after them using every possible tactic.” Some of those on the first list include suspects with 15 allegations against them and the first man had already been arrested and charged.
Sir Mark admitted that recent “ghastly events” — such as the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard by Met officer Wayne Couzens and the serial rapes carried out by David Carrick — had “dented” women’s confidence but insisted that rape prosecutions and the number of women coming forward to report crimes were both rising.
He added that an extra 565 officers and staff would be deployed to strengthen local teams investigating domestic abuse, sexual offences and child sexual abuse and training would be given to other officers.
He said improvements already achieved included 500 more suspects being charged with rape, plus a 6.3 per cent decline in burglaries, calls about anti-social behaviour down and a backlog of online child sexual abuse cases cleared. But he indicated the Met is still seeking to remove “hundreds” of rogue or underperforming officers. He also apologised for earlier failings that had “dented trust in the Met” and added: “We’re sorry, and we will change.”
He also rebuffed calls by Home Secretary Suella Braverman for more stop and search, saying its use would depend on police decisions. He said stop and search “takes weapons off the streets, it stops young people being killed, but it needs to be done with care and thought.”
OF COURSE it is welcome that the Met Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, is to take a more robust approach to rape and sex offences. He is to publish a map of “hotspots” for women and girls and to use a common sense technique — the Cambridge Harm Index, which measures crime in terms of seriousness rather than just number — to identify which of the 35,000 individuals reported each year for offences against women and girls are most dangerous to the public. Of these, the force will focus on the 100 worst.
Sir Mark calls the approach “proactive”, and certainly it seems likely to yield results. But it is not just a matter of identifying and pursuing the perpetrators, important though that is. The problem with tackling sex crimes goes much further into the criminal justice system — namely, the scandalous delays in getting a case to court.
In London, there is an average delay of 425 days between charge and a case concluding in the crown court, compared with 230 days in 2014. This is a formidable deterrent to anyone considering going to the police to report a sexual assault. It is unfair both on victims and on those wrongly accused of a crime, whose lives are on hold pending the case. Besides, who other than a remarkable few can really remember exactly what happened 14 months previously?
This paper welcomes the new initiative. But until the delays in the court system are addressed (and not just for rape) women will continue to be unwilling to report crime.