Watch: ITV Tyne Tees reports on the police watchdog findings following the Halo Project super-complaint
ITV Tyne Tees, 16 December 2022
In 2020, the Tees Valley Inclusion Project filed a national police super-complaint on behalf of the Halo Project. It documented something that those of us working with Black and minoritised victims of sexual abuse and honour-based abuse had known for years: that the police service was failing these women, not occasionally or in isolated cases, but systematically and consistently.
In December 2022, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary published its national report in response to that complaint. ITV Tyne Tees covered the findings and I spoke directly to what they mean for victims and for policing. You can watch the full report at the link above.
What the Report Found
The report found that victims of sexual abuse who are at risk of honour-based abuse are not always properly safeguarded by the police, and that they receive an inconsistent service across different forces. It also found that some officers lack the cultural knowledge and awareness needed to identify and respond to honour-based abuse. itv
Chief Inspector of Constabulary Andy Cooke stated that reporting sexual abuse is difficult enough for victims, and that it is unacceptable for those at risk of honour-based abuse to not be properly safeguarded when they are courageous enough to come forward. He acknowledged that some police forces simply do not have the awareness and understanding to properly identify and manage the risk of honour-based abuse, and that findings were compounded by patchy data recording of ethnicity. itv
These words are important. But words must be followed by action.
What I Said
Speaking to ITV Tyne Tees, I described how, through the super-complaint process, the Halo Project had been supporting victims for six or seven years, some of whom had told me that the abuse they experienced was horrific, and that the way they had been treated by the police had exacerbated that abuse and their trauma, leaving them to carry that for the rest of their lives. itv
That is not an abstraction. Those are the voices of real women who trusted the system and were let down by it. Welcoming the report, as I did, does not mean the work is done. It means a foundation has been laid.
What Was Recommended
The report recommended that police forces work more closely with communities to develop an understanding of cultural differences, that ethnicity is consistently recorded when investigating crimes, and that Police and Crime Commissioners represent all community views when commissioning victim services. itv
Evidence for the report was gathered through fieldwork in six forces, including Cleveland Police. itv
These recommendations are practical and achievable. The question has always been one of will and prioritisation. The super-complaint process exists precisely to compel that prioritisation at the national level.
Why This Moment Mattered
The publication of the HMICFRS report in December 2022 was a significant moment, not because it revealed anything that victims and voluntary sector organisations did not already know, but because it placed those facts into a formal, national record that police forces and commissioners are obliged to respond to.
The Halo Project did not file this complaint to generate criticism for its own sake. We filed it because the women we support deserved to have their experiences taken seriously at the highest level. That is what the super-complaint process achieved. What comes next depends on how seriously policing chooses to act on what has been found.
Watch the full ITV Tyne Tees report here: https://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/2022-12-16/police-watchdog-finds-safeguarding-failings-for-minority-sex-abuse-victims
Founder and Chief Officer of the Halo Project. Former National Advisor on Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence to the Welsh Government, 2018–2026.
