Police face backlog of 200 rape cases a month

Police are struggling under the weight of increased reports of rape, with 200 sexual assault cases each month waiting to be assigned to an investigator.

New recruits – and older officers pulled out of retirement to help – haven’t made a dent in the backlog, which has grown worse since 2018.

The Government had pledged to add up to 180 specialist staff to sexual assault teams by 2020, a target it has now pushed to 2023.

Data obtained by Stuff shows while 80 new officers were trained as specialist adult or child sexual assault investigators since 2018, more than one in three sexual assault files are still held by nonspecialist staff, because trained experts aren’t available.

‘‘This is incredibly disheartening,’’ said Wellington Rape Crisis general manager Kyla Rayner. ‘‘The fact this was first raised three years ago, and we are still in the same position – or worse – shows a complete lack of accountability, leadership and a lack of connection to the lived experiences of survivors.

‘‘How many times do we have to ask survivors to share their stories . . . and explain why delays are so detrimental to their lives before police understand? ... if they did understand, then surely they would fix this problem and give resource to this problem.’’

In October 2018, police said there were 180 unassigned files each month, a nearly 80 per cent increase since 2016. At that point, extra officers were sent to Northland – which had the largest backlog and fewest staff.

Police revealed this week it also hired retired or former police to help deal with the backlog. Those staff worked through 2019, but when Covid-19 hit, the practice was stopped and this year the number of unassigned files began to creep up again.

Detective Inspector David

Kirby, the national manager of the police’s sexual violence and child protection unit, said in part that was because reporting rates also continued to increase – with sexual assault complaints rising from 3500 in 2017 to 4000 last year.

‘‘Unlike other areas of policing, more reports is actually good. We know police are only told about 10 to 15 per cent of sexual assaults so any increase in people coming to us is positive,’’ Kirby said. ‘‘It’s so much better for police to be aware of what’s happened and of alleged perpetrators than not knowing. But, I’m aware that at times it does take time for an investigation to be completed and often complainants have their lives on hold ... and that can have the reverse effect of people not wanting to commence the process.’’

More staff were in the pipeline, but training to be a specialist adult sexual assault investigator took two years, plus two years prior to that in general service.

People should continue to report, Kirby said. ‘‘The staff we have working in these areas are extremely diligent and work to do their best for complainants.’’

Even if a file was awaiting assignment, it would have been triaged for priority and in many cases, immediate action taken. That included securing CCTV footage, seizing clothing or arranging the medical examination of a victim. A case was reviewed monthly until assigned, he said.

Police Association president Chris Cahill said the figures provided further rationale to the argument for the Government to bring forward funding for extra officers.

In 2018, it promised 1800 new police would be recruited, with the bulk of those destined to combat organised crime. So far, it has recruited 1377, and says the rest will be coming over the next two years due to funding constraints.

Police Minister Poto Williams acknowledged the increase in the number of unassigned files, and said it was a matter she took ‘‘extremely seriously’’.