Operation Soteria was launched by the Home Office in June 2021 as a core action in the UK Government’s End-to-End Rape Review to help deliver the ambition to more than double the number of adult rape cases reaching court by the end of this Parliament (May 2024). We must seize it.Ĭhief Constable Sarah Crew (QPM) Executive summary Operation Soteria Bluestone presents a critical opportunity to transform the way police respond to, and investigate, rape and sexual offences and to shape the criminal justice landscape for victim of these heinous crimes. Your expertise and support is critical to our ability to effect real, lasting, transformative change. I believe building this kind of specialist knowledge, supported by critical thinking and a problem-solving mindset, is the single most important change we can make.Īs we progress into Year 2 and the development of the National Operating Model for the investigation of Rape and other Sexual Offences, Professor Betsy Stanko, Professor Katrin Hohl and I welcome feedback and involvement from partners. We need to turn the tables on them by exposing their tactics and using it against them. Of all the rich and deep, and probably unprecedented insight we have gained, for me the most illuminating and significant is the importance of understanding human psychology – and how perpetrators use and exploit it and us – in the investigation and prosecution of rape and the continuum that is sexual violence. I remain absolutely committed to that approach and I want to build on the work set out in the CPS and Policing Joint National Action Plan, the Government’s Rape Review and the completion of a Joint Inspection and the Home Affairs Select Committee inquiry. The work to improve justice for survivors of rape and sexual offences must be done in partnership, bringing together the police, government, justice agencies, the voluntary sector and communities. Throughout this programme, we have benefited from political leadership, investment and cross-government coordination. We must engage with it with an open mind and a full heart. I believe this is the best opportunity in a generation to truly solve the problem of investigation and prosecuting rape. This report provides an evidence base for the action required for transformational change. But this is not a bad day for policing or for criminal justice. Many of the findings are challenging and some are concerning. The publication of the Operation Soteria Bluestone Year 1 report is a milestone in our journey to improving outcomes for victims of rape and sexual offences. Among them the hard-working policing practitioners and leading academics who worked together on the first year of Operation Soteria Bluestone. In my role as National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Adult Sexual Offences, I work with many dedicated and committed colleagues. Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for the Home Department by Command of His Majesty Appendix 12: Pillar Six - Examining, understanding and improving the use of digital material in RAOSO investigations.Appendix 11: Pillar Five - data and performance.Appendix 10: Pillar Four - Officer learning, development and well-being.Appendix 9: Pillar Three - Embedding procedural justice and engaging victims.Appendix 8: Pillar Two - Targeting repeat suspects: End of Year One Report.Appendix 7: Pillar One - suspect focused investigations: End of Year One Report.Appendix 6: National Learning Netword attendance figures.Appendix 5: Project Bluestone key observations (Avon and Somerset Star Funded Pilot, Spring 2021).Appendix 4: The National Picture: A wider context using Home Office published data.
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