Mismanagement, police officers lacking any ‘qualified curiosity’, a tradition for which underage victims were held responsible, IT techniques ‘mismatched with purpose’ and a widespread failure to report and examine critical crimes meant that the gruesome exploitation sexual intercourse of young people continued for years unchallenged.
Among the many worst examples of police behavior was a police officer telling the father of a 15-year-old rape victim that his ordeal would teach him a lesson.
Another woman was turned over to the police in a baby kidnapping case as part of a ‘deal’ not to arrest the alleged kidnapper. Police also discovered her and a ‘semi-naked’ attacker in a room with the woman hiding under the mattress, but did not analyze him.
The father of a sexual abuse sufferer claimed that an officer advised him that nothing can very well be achieved attributable to racial tensions.
Details of South Yorkshire Police’s ‘vital flaws’ were revealed yesterday in an Impartial Workplace for Police Conduct (IOPC) report on police actions between 1997 and 2013 in relation to the sexual exploitation of women, mainly by Asian grooming gangs in Rotherham. Operation Linden was the second largest investigation ever carried out by police surveillance.
He uncovered a mountain of evidence detailing negligent, incompetent and unprofessional police work in dealing with youth sexual abuse, however, officers retired to evade punishment or were allowed to keep their jobs.
The IOPC spent eight years and £6 million on 93 investigations masking 265 allegations from 51 claimants. They investigated 47 police officers and confirmed 43 complaints.
Eight officers had one case to answer for misconduct and 6 for serious misconduct, however, seven prevented disciplinary action upon retiring. Despite tens of millions spent on the inquiry, only two officers received written warnings and three received ‘phrases of recommendation’. The Crown Prosecution Service determined the costs in a potential criminal case – for a knowledge violation.
The Doctor. Alan Billings, Commissioner of Police and Crime for South Yorkshire, said the report “fails to establish the responsibility of any particular person” and “because of this disappoints victims and survivors”.
The IOPC report detailed dozens of complaints against the police. Many police officers regarded the victims – predominantly underage white women – as criminals.
The report stated that his persistent concern for the assailants was compounded by a mistrust of the police. Some were so traumatized by the lack of assistance that they thought about or attempted suicide. When officials dealing with sexual exploitation raised questions, they were advised that policing priorities were related to different crimes such as home burglary and car crime.
The report stated that a standard topic of complaints was how little the police understood about sexual abuse of young people.
Many did not have the training to take care of the specialized police space and few did not understand the legislation. A detective police officer commented at a baby safety convention that a 12-year-old woman had consented to sexual encounters, despite legislation being clear that a youth her age cannot give consent.
An official working on the matter stated that in 2008 ‘there was no idea that there was a hidden difficulty with young people being groomed and manipulated into abuse’.
Police officers were declared to ask inappropriate questions to abuse women, such as “can you enjoy sex?”
Professor Alexis Jay’s single Rotherham abuse report, revealed in 2014, highlighted how authorities failed to take action against Asian suspects for fear of being labeled racist. IOPC investigators found that this was also the view of some victims.
There was awareness among frontline officers of the excessive proportion of Asian men involved in abuse studies, but there were ‘missed alternatives’ to address the problem by approaching neighborhood leaders.
Steve Noonan, director of principal investigations at the IOPC, stated that 13 suggestions were made because of the inquiry and that the legislation wanted to be modified to ensure victims were supported and ‘not criminalized’.
He added: ‘I’m glad some people may be dissatisfied with a person’s results. However, we leave no stone unturned to know what went wrong, why and what changed and what still wants to change.’
South Yorkshire Deputy Chief of Police Tim Forber claimed the power was ‘completely different’ these days, including: ‘
David Greenwood, a lawyer representing 80 Rotherham victims, said the police complaints system ‘provided zero liability and wanted reform’.
Oddly, the IOPC report was gender-biased, with each ‘survivor’ and ‘perpetrators’ being known as ‘they’ or ‘they’ as stand-ins for ‘she’ or ‘he’. The IOPC stated that this was to protect their anonymity.
String of bugs that allow sex demons to go off the hook
By Chris Brooke for Everyday Mail
Yesterday’s report detailed many circumstances of surprising police incompetence.
A teenage girl, who was sexually exploited for 3 years starting in 1999, was discovered by police half-naked along with her attacker and hidden under a mattress.
She was then arrested for possession of a truncheon – supposedly so she could talk freely with the officers – but the incident was by no means adopted and the person escaped from prison for lack of evidence.
{The teenager}, who was abused while in care since the age of 14, recalled a separate incident in which a police officer spoke to her and an assailant in a police cell after they were arrested. He advised the person that they could take care of her as they knew she was their ‘woman’.
Abusers: (left to right, top to bottom) Arshid Hussain, Basharat Hussain, Bannaras Hussain, Karen MacGregor, Shelley Davies, Qurban Ali
She stated that she noticed the officer later buying steroids from the person.
He reportedly faced a hearing for gross misconduct, but prevented that by resigning.
WHY NO ONE TAKES ME SERIOUSLY
Sammy Woodhouse, victim of the Rotherham scandal, criticized the failure to punish police officers who let down abused women.
Now an activist for victims of Asian grooming gangs, she changed her life after years of teenage sexual abuse.
Mother of two Miss Woodhouse, 36, whose tormentor Arshid Hussain was imprisoned for 35 years, said: “I am completely disgusted that no expert will ever be held accountable for the sexual and criminal exploitation of me and others in Rotherham. .’
She was placed in foster care by her mother and father to try to end her relationship with Hussain, a 24-year-old married man and father of two, when the sexual abuse began at age 14.
But since she had said that she was in love with Hussain, the police and social staff were on standby.
She twice became pregnant by Hussain, but no action was taken because the authorities considered her consent and refused to come forward with a criticism.
They considered her more like a girlfriend than a victim of abuse.
Hussain forced her to abort the primary pregnancy.
She escaped from her abuser at age 15 when he was arrested for a violent offense.
Disgusted: Sammy Woodhouse
Another criticism was maintained in relation to the police response to a ‘youth kidnapping case’.
The woman was eventually handed over to the police by the attacker as part of an ‘agreement’ not to arrest him.
The person’s title and business were identified to police, but the incident was not properly recorded or shared with other companies.
The woman also claimed that safeguard action was not taken despite police officers often stopping a car she was a passenger in, which was owned and occupied by a criminal.
This criticism was confirmed by the IOPC. An officer warned the father of a 15-year-old girl who had been raped in a Rotherham park that the ordeal would ‘train’ a ‘lesson’ for her.
She had vital internal accidents that required a surgical procedure and hospital staff suspected they were in agreement with the rape.
Despite making an attempt by the police to encourage her to make a criticism, she refused and did not consent to a medical forensic examination.
The IOPC stated that there was no evidence that the police made any investigation into the suspect and lost the prospect of seeing the woman’s clothes taken on the night of the incident.
In total, there were 21 breaches of {professional} requirements by six police officers over a two-year span when the woman was being groomed and exploited by men.
Several of their complaints were addressed, but three of the officers retired and prevented possible misconduct by listening.
The father of an abuse victim said a senior officer warned him that this type of exercise had been going on for 30 years and the police might do nothing due to racial tensions.
The father initially described the officer as ‘chief of police’ and later as ‘head of inspection’, but the criticism was maintained despite the fact that the officer remained unidentified.
In 2016, three brothers who solicited, raped and sexually assaulted 15 teenagers in Rotherham were arrested.
Arshid Hussain, 40, was jailed for 35 years, while brothers Basharat, 39, and Bannaras, 36, were jailed for 25 and 19 years, respectively.
His uncle, Qurban Ali, 53, who was found responsible for conspiracy to rape, was jailed for ten years.
Affiliate Karen MacGregor, 59, was jailed for 13 years and Shelley Davies, 40, received an 18-month suspension period.
