Editorial

POLICE CONCERN

20 March 2009

In the week that Rotherhithe cabbie John Worboys was found guilty of preying on women he drugged in the back of his cab, it is troubling to read the Independent Police Complaints Commission's report into an investigation of an alleged rape of a fifteen-year-old.

The report claimed critical information went missing during the investigation, and that vital leads were not followed up. Excellent work is carried out by Southwark's Sapphire Unit, which investigates all sex crimes in the borough. So most worrying of all is a statement by a Detective Inspector in that unit, that greater importance was given to motor vehicle crime than to allegations of serious sexual assault.

The police have said the team is now fully staffed, but will comment more fully when any possible disciplinary action has been taken.We deserve an explanation.
The demands on our police are many, and robbery is high up on the list. But no one would support anti-robbery drives at the expense of proper investigations into cases of alleged serious sexual assault.

---

Social Bookmarks:
del.icio.us Digg Newsvine Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon
Wikipedia: social bookmarking

---