Sexual assault and the PSNI: ‘Messages telling people to stay safe are still extremely important’ says top officer

The police force has signed up to something called the White Ribbon Campaign – a feminist movement which has recently begun ramping up its Northern Irish operations.

One of the worldwide movement’s mantras is the phrase: “Believe women” (the upshot being that people should accept accusations from women about sexual wrongdoing, as opposed to believing the accuseds’ accounts).

As part of an online discussion to mark the start of a concerted White Ribbon campaign in Northern Ireland, the PSNI’s head of public safety DCS Anthony McNally recently said: “The question should be: ‘What are we doing to stop men assaulting women?’ – not ‘What can women do to stop being assaulted?’

“I believe the creation of White Ribbon NI can help change that question.”

This has become a common theme among activists over the years; as one headline in the Washington Post puts it: “Let’s stop telling women to stay safe – let’s tell men not to assault us.”

‘PERSONAL SAFETY MESSAGES EXTREMELY IMPORTANT’

The News Letter asked the police a string of questions about its involvement with White Ribbon, including:

– Is it now the PSNI’s position that it does not encourage women to take precautions to keep themselves safe?

– What can the police do to pre-emptively stop men assaulting women?

– Given that one of the mantras of White Ribbon is “believe women,” is the PSNI now endorsing this approach?

– And why is the PSNI focussing on women, when serious violence is more likely to be committed against men (see statistics below)?

The PSNI responded with a statement from Detective Superintendent Gary McDonald: “The PSNI, as part of our approach to tackling violence against women and girls, is looking at how we manage potential perpetrator behaviour at the earliest possible stage.

“Personal safety messages are of course still an incredibly important part of the prevention of all crime.

“But tackling offending, re-offending and making our communities feel safe is also a priority.

“We want victims of all crime, including women and girls to feel confident in reporting to the police in the knowledge that they will be listened to in a sensitive manner and their report thoroughly investigated.

“Unfortunately the statistics show that females are more likely to be a victim of crime generally, but even more so violent and sexual crimes. These statistics cannot be ignored.

“That’s why the police service is working on developing the first ‘violence and intimidation against women and girls’ strategy.

“We’ll be listening to concerns and making sure the voices of women and girls are the driving force behind the decisions we make in this area.

“We’ll also be exploring different ways of communicating and educating on important topics like sexual consent.”

The “believe women” approach of some police forces had been undermined in recent years by the case of Carl Beech, a fantasist who told The Met about alleged abuse at the hands of top political and military figures.

His reports to police led to arrests of many men, who were publicly exposed as suspects – often in the final years of their life.

Not only did his wild claims all turn out to be false, but it transpired Beech himself had a sexual interest in children.

MEN MUCH MORE LIKELY TO BE INJURED:

The PSNI’s reference to statistics above (about women being the main victims of violent crimes) is true... partly.

Delving deeper, the PSNI’s own stats show that when it comes to serious assaults (that is, ones where an injury has been caused), men are far more likely than women to be victims.

From 2007 to 2019 there were 91,833 recorded cases of “violence without injury, including harassment” involving female victims.

Meanwhile there were 86,700 involving male victims.

But when it comes to “violence with injury”, there were 62,960 cases involving female victims – and 104,651 involving male victims.

Homicides are of course the most serious kind of violence.

And whilst it is hard to find long-range homicide stats, the PSNI’s figures from March 2019 to February 2021 show that there were 15 female homicide victims, and 35 males ones.

WHAT IS WHITE RIBBON?:

The White Ribbon pledge says: “I promise to never commit, excuse or remain silent about violence against women.”

One of the most recent videos which appears on White Ribbon Northern Ireland’s Facebook account involves a man setting out the reasons to support the campaign.

His remarks are as follows:

“Forgive me for man-splaining this.

“But it seems there are still a lot of guys out there who are only going to listen if this comes from another white dude.

“When we say ‘believe women’, we aren’t saying that women are inherently more honest than men or that they’re somehow better.

“We are simply saying that when a woman says she has been sexually assaulted it is extremely likely that she is telling the truth...

“1) It happens all the time.

“If I tell you ‘it rained on my vacation’ you have no trouble believing that, because you know rain is a thing that happens.

“In fact in New York City it rains roughly one out of every three days.

“One out of every three women is sexually assaulted.

“It is as likely as rain.

“2) There is a huge incentive for women not to come forward, because when they do the consequences are terrible [he cites the case of Christine Blasey Ford in America, who accused judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct when they were teenagers].

“3) You know the consequences usually aren’t terrible for? Duh! The men!”

QUESTIONS OVER PSNI STANCE: 

The fact the PSNI says it is still endorsing messages about the importance of personal safety comes just weeks after it apologised for warning people that the risk of rape increases with alcohol.

Posters saying this had been circulated on the Magee campus of Ulster University.

The wording read: “Alcohol is the number one rape drug. How much have you taken already?”

This sparked a fierce response from feminists, who accused the PSNI of blaming rape victims for their own ordeals.

The PSNI had responded by saying: “These leaflets were discontinued a number of years ago and do not reflect how the PSNI views or treats victims of sexual crime.

“We are making inquiries as to how they came into circulation again and are taking urgent action to ensure that any remaining flyers are destroyed.”