Nearly a year after the government promised to reform the way rape cases are investigated, victims are still being asked to hand over their mobile phones as part of an “excessive” police scrutiny, according to the Office. of the Independent Commissioner.
Traumatized victims receive “wide-ranging” consent forms for digital searches when they are unable to give “significantly informed consent,” information commissioner John Edwards told Sky News.
“Investigators should limit themselves to issues that are relevant to the subject being investigated and not go through the ancient history and intimate life of someone who has just gone through a traumatic incident,” he said.
“In the vast majority of cases, it should not be necessary as one of the kinds of openness in an investigation of serious sexual assault.”
Edwards calls for an immediate end to the collection of large amounts of information, including telephone scanning described as a “digital search” – due to concerns that victims of rape and other serious sex crimes will continue to be “treated as suspects “.
Image: John Edwards calls for an immediate end to researchers who gather large amounts of information
Georgina Fallow was raped in 2018 while walking home late at night.
It is now offered to help support survivors of rape and sexual violence.
Ms. Fallow says she repeatedly hears stories of victims who feel they are being treated as suspects because of the amount of information requested by police.
She told Sky News: “You have so much need for control right now because you feel you need to protect everything, physically, emotionally, whatever it is.
“It was more of the ‘I have no voice on how my information is used’, and that’s what personally in my case made me hesitate to take things further.”
Mrs Fallow added: “Justice is not happening because women are concerned about whether or not they have equality in the process, and at the moment we have no equality in the process.”
Sky News also spoke with a survivor of a rape from which digital data and medical records were taken; to get it, the police took his phone for almost a year. She has chosen to remain anonymous.
She said: “The hardest part for me was that in my case the defense decided that downloading was not enough, they were worried that they were missing information, so they asked CPS to meet face to face and go through my social media.
“It was frustrating not to have a phone and when I asked why it took so long they told me it was because there was too much information and not enough services available to deal with the number of digital download requests due to the number of cases.
“You can give all this information, and it seems like it will never be enough.”
Image: Georgina Fallow offers to help support survivors of rape and sexual violence
The government announced its review of violations last summer, stating that the digital material requested from victims would be limited “strictly” to what was “necessary and proportionate to allow for reasonable lines of investigation into the alleged crime “.
But the latest report from the Office of the Information Commissioner found that “victims are being told to agree to deliver extraordinary amounts of information about their lives, immediately after a life-changing attack.” .
Activists continue to criticize low rates of convictions for sex crimes, with the latest figures from the Interior Ministry showing that 1.3% of the 67,125 reports of rape registered by police in 2021 lead to prosecution.
The ICO report sets out multiple recommendations, including that of the National Police Chiefs Council to force all police officers to stop issuing forms to victims indicating general consent to obtain information.
Read more: Violation trial guidelines for prosecutors could “deter” women from seeking support, activists say
The Interior Ministry said: “We must ensure that victims and witnesses are confident that they will be treated with sensitivity and dignity when they report crimes and that their rights to privacy will be protected.
“That’s why we’ve strengthened the law covering digital information requests, to ensure that victims are only asked for their phone number when needed and provided, and we’ve funded £ 5 million in new technology. for 24 police forces to help fulfill our commitment to review the rape that no adult.The rape victim will be left without a phone for more than 24 hours.
“We will also soon launch a public consultation on police requests for personal information, such as medical or educational records, to understand more about the problems in this area and to try possible solutions.”