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New help for Portsmouth rape victims

Posted on October 15, 2008 
Filed Under General News

A dedicated sexual assaults unit is to be set up by Hampshire Police in a bid to increase detections.

In a Home Office-funded pilot project – the first outside London – the Crystal Unit will be based at Fratton police station in Portsmouth.

The unit will be monitored and, when the pilot ends, compared to statistics of similar crimes in Southampton.

One woman who claims to have been raped said she hoped the unit would encourage more people to come forward.

Claire Portsmouth, who has waivered her right to anonymity, said no one had been convicted of the attacks on her. 
 
“When I got there I was already traumatised and the police officer on the desk was not very interested, it was like being turned away, so I left.”
 I was raped and sexually assaulted over a period of two years.
Claire Portsmouth 

 

 

 

“After the first incident I didn’t report it to the police straight away but after a particularly violent assault one night I did go to the police.”

“[Later a] police officer said it was historic and you have not got a hope of a conviction. I can’t really describe how I felt, really disheartened I suppose.”

The number of rapes reported in Portsmouth for the 12-month period commencing April 2006 was 127 (157 in Southampton) and in the following year, it was 122 (160 in Southampton).

The new unit will have a dedicated team of officers, including investigators specially trained in detecting sexual offences, as well as Crown Prosecution Service lawyers.

The Crystal Unit spells out our commitment to survivors of these terrible crimes. Det Ch Insp Richard John
This is the first opportunity anywhere in the country to examine in detail why people sometimes do not proceed through the criminal justice system.
 
Staff at the Crystal Unit will also be working closely with  partnership agencies such as the Sexual Assault Referral Centre, known as the Treetops, in Cosham and Portsmouth City Council’s Early Intervention Project.
 
If someone is undecided about whether to report a rape or serious sexual offence to the police, they have the option of contacting the SARC direct on 023 9221 0352 for support from the Early Intervention Project team and the Young Persons Worker. Forensic Samples can be taken to secure evidence in the event they do decide to report to the police in future.
 
Other publicity involving the Crystal Unit -

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