Legal News

Home Secretary Theresa May has told the Police Federation Conference 2016 that developing minimum training and standards for certain specialist roles – and giving the College of Policing responsibility for enforcing those standards through a system of national accreditation – would deliver higher standards for specialist investigators, including for domestic abuse and child sexual abuse.

Mrs May said that ensuring standard and training are “as rigorously and as consistently applied in protecting the vulnerable, as they are in other critical areas like firearms and public order” was necessary.

The Home Secretary said that, in 2015, police forces in England and Wales received more than 100 calls every hour about domestic abuse.

Domestic abuse cases made up around one in every three violent crimes with injury – and police officers recorded more than 100,000 sexual offences.

She also added that there were more prosecutions and more convictions for rape “than ever before”.

Mrs May said that reforms involving domestic abuse and support given to victims had seen improvements, with every police force in England and Wales now having an action plan in place to tackle domestic abuse.

“These reforms will mean that, in future, victims can have confidence that the police will take these crimes as seriously as any other – and it will mean that you, as police officers, are not forced to take on the risk and responsibility of investigating crimes for which you have not been prepared or trained professionally.

The Home Secretary added that, if the police doubted that change was possible, changes in the last six years have shown what can be achieved.

“Crime down and public confidence maintained – police forces that are more diverse, more professional and better qualified than ever before; more targeted and proportionate use of existing powers, like stop and search – and the first successful convictions under new laws, including for modern slavery and coercive control,” she said.

Mrs May added that the improvements had been achieved while delivering “significant savings”.

The Home Secretary also told the conference that the Hillsborough tragedy should be “a touchstone for everything you do”.

“Never forget that those who died in that disaster or the 27 years of hurt endured by their families and loved ones.

“Let the hostility, the obfuscation and the attempts to blame the fans serve as a reminder of the need for change – make sure your institutions, whose job it is to protect the public, never again fail to put the public first.

“And put professionalism and integrity at the heart of every decision, every interaction, and every dealing with the public you have – because if you do, you will renew the model of policing by consent in this country; and you will truly be custodians of justice for those who have been denied it for too long,” the Home Secretary added.

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