Almost 50 reports of rape which Cleveland Police previously failed to classify as crimes are being reinvestigated, the Gazette can reveal.
A review set up by the force after criticism over how it handled rape allegations has uncovered a further 37 reports of cases wrongly recorded as “no crime”.
The additional reports come after a review by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) last year found 12 offences of rape had been misrecorded.
The latest cases bring the total to 49. These have now been recorded and are under investigation.
A Cleveland Police spokeswoman said: “A specialist team, headed up by a detective inspector, has been set up to conduct the investigations and we are working with partner agencies and the Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARC) to ensure victims receive the appropriate care and support.”
“Victims of crimes remain at the heart of everything we do and we are fully committed to supporting people who have been through a traumatic or distressing experience.”
HMIC inspected Cleveland Police as part of a national inspection on crimes recorded between November 2012 and October 2013.
The report, published last August, said inspectors had “significant” concerns over how the force had responded to rape allegations.
The HMIC report said: “The process for authorising no-crime for rape is not sufficient and requires attention.”
Following the review, Cleveland Police voluntarily carried out its own audit, looking at cases from 2010 onwards.
“Our systems and processes around crime recording have changed to ensure we have robust and transparent systems in place around crime recording,” added the spokeswoman.
“We now have a dedicated decision maker to specifically assess no-crime decisions in respect of rape offences.
“There is also increased scrutiny with every no-crime relating to an indictable offence, which includes rape and sexual offences being audited by the force crime registrar on a monthly basis.
“We have also developed a scrutiny panel to review rape no-crime decisions, which is made up of representatives from the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Office, the Local Criminal Justice Board and third sector agencies working in sexual violence.”
One of the third-party agencies helping the force is Middlesbrough-based charity Arch, which offers counselling and support to people affected by rape or sexual abuse.
Arch chief executive Dilys Davy said: “We are supporting the police in looking into these 49 no-crimed reports.
“The force has put lots of things in place to make sure this won’t happen again.
“Firstly there is a rape scrutiny panel, which is not just made up of the police, but by people from our agency and other third party agencies and in the last six months, we have been scrutinising cases that the police have done and making sure they were crimed.
“We have also been looking at these 49 cases and making recommendations. These are now being followed up and we are supporting the police in doing this.
“Police are conscious this could have an impact on the victim and have therefore asked us to get involved.
“We want to make it as easy as possible for the victims and not to retraumatise them but there will be support there if so.
“And if people don’t want to do anymore with it then they absolutely don’t have to.”
“In this situation, Cleveland Police are doing everything they can to make it as simple and as easy for the victims,” she added.
“Police are working really hard with third sector specialist agencies so people get the best possible support they can.”
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