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Programme Aimed At Tackling Serious Sexual Offences Comes To Isle Of Wight

Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary will be implementing the Operation Soteria Bluestone National Operating Model.

The initiative aims to provide a transformational change program tackling rape and serious sexual offences across the Isle of Wight.

Launched in 2021 as part of the government’s end-to-end Rape Review Operation Soteria is a Home Office funded research and change programme, led by the National Police Chiefs’ Council.

The collaborative programme, which initially bought together 19 police forces and academics to understand and tackle the challenges seen in rape and serious sexual offences investigations, will allow police officers to conduct suspect, rather than victim-focused, investigations and better support victims of these crimes.

Temporary Detective Superintendent David West, said:

“As an Operation Soteria Bluestone expansion force, we have benefited from the support of partners, peers and academics over the past year to understand how we can and must improve our response to rape and other sexual offences.

“Transformational change is required to achieve the much needed and evidence improvements to this hugely challenging and complex area of crime.

“We will do so by ensuring we are victim centered, suspect focused and context led through fair and balanced investigations.

“As a demonstration of our commitment to learn and improve, we continue to invite victim-survivors to take part in an anonymous survey to share their experience of police investigations and the criminal justice process”

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