For Once, I Doubt It's The Police Letting Women Down...

Women who report men filming up their skirts are having their ordeals ‘minimised’ by police as figures reveal less than one in six cases result in a criminal charge.

The police don't charge, they just arrest and gather evidence - that's the purview of the CPS.  

Analysis of so-called ‘upskirting’ in the past two years shows police logged almost 800 allegations, yet just 118 ended up in court. Despite new laws being introduced in 2019 to better protect women, critics fear many victims are still failing to secure justice.

Then point the finger at the right culprits.  

Andrea Simon, director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said police were still failing to take women seriously over the issue, adding: ‘Upskirting is a traumatic violation in its own right, and can form part of a wider pattern of offending that includes rape and other forms of sexual violence. 

‘We’ve long called for non-contact sexual offences to be taken more seriously. However, the reality is that they are often minimised when reported, with police frequently failing to investigate them properly or recognise patterns of offending. 

‘This leads to missed opportunities to prevent further abuse. Upskirting has been a specific criminal offence since 2019, but the low number of prosecutions shows that criminalisation alone is not the solution.’

Oh good grief. Way to paint women as unserious hysterical exaggerators, Andrea! Thanks for that... 🙄

Home Office figures show that in the past two years police logged 772 upskirting offences, of which 118 saw somebody charged and taken to court, while 11 accepted a caution. In 265 cases a prime suspect was identified, but problems gaining evidence meant they were not charged. Another 201 cases were shelved as officers could not track down a suspect, with 17 cases closed after a community resolution was reached, often an apology from the offender.

The police's hands are tied by the need to gather enough evidence to suit the CPS who will only prosecute if it's a slam dunk (or is it's something Starmer is politically interested in).