Nottinghamshire Police vow to do all they can to support victims of rape and sexual offences.
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The force has spoken out after the anniversary of Sarah Everard’s murder, as the Government pledged to putting tackling violence against women and girls on the same footing as terrorism.
The March 2021 abduction, rape and murder of 33-year-old Ms Everard, by serving Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens, galvanised public anger in the UK concerning violence against women and girls – and the criminal justice system’s failure to tackle it.
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Hide AdNew analysis of Home Office data by your Chad’s sister national side NationalWorld.com reveals the scale of that violence.
Between April and September 2021, 34,608 rape offences and 36,265 sexual assaults were recorded by police forces across England and Wales, of which 90 per cent and 84 per cent respectively involved female victims.
That equates to 338 reports from female victims every day on average – 170 rapes and 167 sexual assaults.
In Nottinghamshire, 567 rape offences were recorded in the six-month period, including 515 of females. A further 666 sexual assaults were reported, 529 of them on girls and women.
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Hide AdThe figures mean there were, on average, 5.7 rapes and sexual assaults on women in the county every day.
Committed
Detective Inspector Craig Hall, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “We are absolutely committed to providing the best possible service to survivors of rape and sexual offences.
“Our workforce is made up of highly skilled and experienced police officers, including specially trained officers who attend initial reports of such crimes.
“Their role is to protect people from immediate harm and they are trained to recognise trauma and the emotional harm caused to survivors.
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Hide Ad“These officers have responsibility for gathering early evidence, while also ensuring survivors are provided with specialist support.
“Crimes of sexual violence are then passed to detectives in the force’s public protection team, who work tirelessly each day to thoroughly investigate all cases of rape and sexual violence.
“These officers work to bring offenders to justice and prevent further crimes of this nature.
“We find survivors sometimes choose not to report such crimes through fear of not being believed, or because the offence happened in the past.
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Hide Ad“Every person who reports sexual violence to Nottinghamshire Police will be listened to and given a professional service.
“It doesn’t matter if an offence happened today or years ago, what matters is it should never have happened at all.
“If you have been the victim of a sexual assault, please get in touch with us using 101, or, if a crime has just happened, by calling 999.
“We will listen carefully to you, investigate and do everything we can to get justice for you and prevent others from being victimised.”
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Hide AdPeople can also get in touch if they need help, but are not in a position to speak, by dialling 999 and using the ‘silent call’ option, where they simply need to remain silent and the call taker will then give them instructions on how to communicate with officers.
Any person unsure whether to report to the police can access information and contact details for specialist support services by visiting nottssvss.org.uk/consent-coalition