Listen to the ‘victims’ first before rushing to a conclusion

In the past, police harassment took the form of racism and homophobia. Today, perhaps more than anything else, domestic violence policing is the form that police harassment takes. High-profile cases like that of the late TV presenter Caroline Flack and, in Scotland, that of Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson should raise concerns about what is happening with our criminal justice systems both north and south of the Border.

But with no political opposition, indeed with support from both right and left, the policing of personal relationships is taking place with little or no critical thought.

Worse still, it seems that the more authoritarian you are, the better you look.

Take the current Domestic Abuse Bill in England. Here we have a Conservative government launching a bill that reduces still further the basis of justice both by eliminating the capacity of the accused to cross examine the accuser and with the proposal to use lie detector tests on abusers released from prison.

Polygraph machines that cannot be used in courts across the UK when assessing truths will now be used to increase the monitoring of past offenders.

If you refuse to take the six monthly test or are believed to be “tricking” the machine you will end up back in prison. This all based on the use of equipment opposed by psychological associations, like in the US, where it is argued that “most psychologists agree that there is little evidence that polygraph tests can accurately detect lies”.

Time perhaps to rage against the machine.

But before we even get to this situation we find trials, like that of Stephen Robinson, where the alleged victim,

Robyn Lauchlan, is screaming to be heard and to assert that no abuse has taken place.

Ms Lauchlan described the trial process as one of “12 torturous weeks”. The police didn’t even bother to interview Ms Lauchlan, but instead acted as in loc parentis for the infantilised “victim of abuse”.

Perhaps to improve their image we find Tory politicians and senior police officers falling over themselves to act as the “voice of the voiceless”, the presumption being that all women are vulnerable and in need of their protection. But rather than recreate the sexist nonsense we are trying to get away from perhaps they should start by listening to actual women whose voices they are silencing.