Rape Offences (524A/22)
Request
- The number of reported rapes in 2022 to date, 2021, 2020 and 2019.
- The number of reported rapes broken down into age of victims.
- The outcomes for the reported rapes categorised in years, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 to date.
Response
Please find attached (524A_22_attachment1.pdf, 524A_22_attachment2.pdf, and 524A_22_attachment3.pdf). Please note however, with regard to question 2 (age of victim), due to the data only representing a partial year and the risk of identifying an individual, ages 10 and Under and 65 and Over have been grouped respectively, by virtue of Section 40(2) – Personal information.
Section 40(2) allows for personal data to be withheld where release would breach the third party’s data protection rights. It would be unfair to release this information where any person could be identified from the data and in this case the right to privacy outweighs any public interest in release.
Details of this exemption can be found here:
Please also note, ‘Victim Age’ is calculated from the date of birth input onto our systems and its accuracy is therefore reliant on the correct date being entered. In order to confirm the accuracy of every age though would require manually going into each case. Such a search however would exceed the appropriate limit (FOIA, s.12). Data has therefore been provided as recorded, but the detail collected to respond specifically to your request is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when interpreting those data.
The figures provided therefore are our best interpretation of relevance of data to your request, but you should be aware that the collation of figures for ad hoc requests may have limitations and this should be taken into account when those data are used.
If you decide to write an article / use the enclosed data we would ask you to take into consideration the factors highlighted in this document so as to not mislead members of the public or official bodies, or misrepresent the relevance of the whole or any part of this disclosed material.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) recently launched a framework which aims to deliver a fundamental shift in priority of violence against women and girls, and to give victims a consistently high standard of service across all police forces.
This is something we fully support as we continue to do all we can to take action that makes women and girls safer, and bring perpetrators to justice.
We don’t underestimate the impact of being a rape victim and we’re working closely with the CPS on a joint action plan to deliver improvements.
We are continuing to strive to give victims confidence to come forward in the knowledge we’ll pursue prosecution action every time we can.
Together with the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner we recently launched a campaign asking men to be upstanders for women’s safety, not a bystander to intimidation and violence.
We’ve also raised awareness of the ‘Ask for Angela’ scheme – where any woman who feels uncomfortable on a night out can get help from the bar or club she is in by discreetly asking staff for ‘Angela’.
This work forms part of our overall Safer Streets campaign. This includes police operations to spot and deal with potential male perpetrators, better education for young men on respecting women and girls and work with partners to make practical improvements to our streets including lighting and CCTV.
We’ve also launched a website where you can report areas where you don’t feel safe. These reports will help us work with partners to make it safer for you. It can be found here www.police.uk/streetsafe
Our work remains ongoing but for more information visit: https://www.westmidlands-pcc.gov.uk/no-excuse-for-abuse/