Inquiry finds Greater Manchester Police unlawfully arrested and stripsearched victims of abuse

Following the shocking police treatment of three women by Greater Manchester Police (GMP) uncovered by Sky News, Dame Vera Baird KC has today (18th July 2024) released the findings of her independent inquiry into the treatment of women and girls who have been arrested and taken into police custody in Greater Manchester.

Commissioned last August by the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, over 15 people arrested and detained by GMP were interviewed as part of the inquiry, including the three women in the Sky News investigation, a further nine women and three men. A further eight anonymised contributions were received and examined by the inquiry.

Cases heard by the inquiry include a number of victims of male violence against women subjected to shocking mistreatment by Greater Manchester Police. These include a woman strangled to the point of passing out by her partner, who was then herself arrested and subjected to a stripsearch by police officers, and a child victim of trafficking for sexual exploitation who was arrested by the police after being robbed, and then stripsearched in a room close to the custody desk with a glass door through which anyone could see her in her underwear.

The inquiry made a number of recommendations, including:

• Establish a Greater Manchester scrutiny panel to review anonymised arrests, at the lower end of criminality, every three months. The panel should have membership from across criminal justice and the victims’ sector and feed back to the GMP senior officer team and the Deputy Mayor with any concerns about the necessity and reasonableness of arrests.
• GMP should refresh officer training on a number of areas including options to use voluntary attendance over arrest, and the effective use of the national decision model in determining whether an arrest is necessary.
• Quality control of ‘arrest pack’ arrests to help avoid unlawful arrests.
• GMP should ensure all officers are given training to help them to recognise and manage the effects of domestic and sexual trauma on survivors, so that officers are better equipped to respond to victims, avoid escalation of incidents involving survivors through physical contact with male officers, and avoid unlawful arrests of victims facing counter-allegations from a perpetrator.
• Create links with domestic and sexual abuse charities to offer support for women detainees who are found to be survivors. The female welfare officer provided by the force for each woman detainee should be responsible for asking the detainee about their need for this support.

Dame Vera Baird notes that there rarely is a note on the custody record of a strip search, even when there is a video of it. She also notes that some of the observations, conclusions and recommendations relate to matters that are not unique to the police in Greater Manchester.

In a statement responding to the inquiry, Andrea Simon, Director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), said:

“The End Violence Against Women Coalition has long called for transformation in the culture of policing along with accountability, transparency and leadership to root out misogyny, racism and other forms of discrimination wherever they are found.

This latest inquiry follows a suite of reports and reviews investigating systemic issues within policing – most recently Baroness Casey’s review into the standards of behaviour and internal culture of the Metropolitan Police Service, which found officers were able to abuse their position of power and authority with impunity.

Public trust and confidence in policing has sharply declined in recent years, following high profile revelations about police-perpetrated violence against women and girls. Dame Vera Baird’s report not only illustrates how this is an issue that stretches far beyond London’s Met Police, but it also shows how perpetrators of abuse are often able to weaponise the criminal justice system and pursue prosecution against victims as part of a pattern of coercive control.

Critical issues flagged by this inquiry include police call handlers failing in their duty of care to victims of domestic abuse, a routine practice of arresting victims without regard for the broader context of abuse, an overwhelmingly weak police response to domestic abuse, poor understanding of and over-response to minor misconduct by victims, a readiness to criminalise traumatised women expressing frustration with the police response, and police officers escalating situations rather than protecting the public peace.

In addition, it highlights a systemic issue around provision of sanitary protection in custody as well as detainees’ rights to medical care.

We call on the Mayor of Greater Manchester to implement in full the inquiry’s recommendations along with a plan for how they will be delivered in a timely manner. The Home Office, National Police Chiefs’ Council and College of Policing must also heed these findings and take appropriate action to stop others from going through such appalling mistreatment at the hands of the police.

We know these issues are not limited to Greater Manchester Police and urge the Home Office to commission an inquiry into use of stripsearch in other forces.

All police forces must be accountable to the public they serve. Due to their position of power and authority, there can be no justification for missing custody notes, gaps in video footage or any failure to be open and transparent about what happens to those in custody. We welcome the inquiry’s recommendation for greater scrutiny, which must include victim advocates.

It is particularly critical that forces have a better understanding of the dynamics of domestic abuse and other forms of male violence, so that victims aren’t arrested and criminalised. This is essential to maintaining trust in the police and ensuring perpetrators are brought to justice.”

Shocking cases heard by the inquiry include:

Sophie, known to the police as a “high risk” domestic abuse victim, who was unlawfully arrested for criminal damage and assault in the early hours of the morning after reporting her violent ex-partner to the police following his attempt to strangle her. Sophie was searched outside of her home, and after informing an officer that she was awaiting a hysterectomy at the time and bleeding heavily, was taken to the police station where there was no toilet roll or sanitary provision. Sophie was left to bleed through her clothes and was refused medication, before being released after a further 11 hours.

Sophie received a caution and was required by the CPS to attend two court hearings before they finally dropped the case against her. Had she been convicted, Sophie would have lost her job and the caution would have shown on any future Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks, jeopardising her career. Sophie says these events have ruined her life, that she is perpetually frightened that she’ll be taken in the middle of the night and locked away bleeding. She cries when she thinks about the treatment and the embarrassment of worrying about who saw her arrested outside of her house. “If I could go back now, I probably wouldn’t report it,” she says. A family member present says they will never trust the police.

Maria, who was staying in Manchester with an abusive husband. The police were called to her hotel room after Maria was overheard screaming as she was strangled to the point of passing out. Her husband was arrested and the following morning, Maria called the police for help on 101 over 14 times, as she was alone without money in a city she didn’t know. She was made to recount her abuse multiple times and told someone would contact her, but they never did. The police finally responded only after she reached a point of desperation and talked about the prospect of suicide.

Maria later faced a charge of malicious communications for these calls. In the course of her interactions with the police to obtain her things from her husband, Maria was handcuffed and unlawfully arrested, detained and strip searched, in such a way that she described as humiliating and demeaning. Maria says the strip search was done to “degrade her”, and that she was “treated like a piece of meat”. Her custody record contains several inaccuracies or “fictitious entries” about what took place. After a horrendous ordeal, in the early hours of the morning, Maria was released into a strange city, still without any money with which to get home. She was scared and a stranger attempted to get her into his car.

Charlotte, a woman taking emergency action to protect a child from suspected sexual exploitation and trafficking, was reportedly arrested as a ‘formality’. She was left overflowing with blood into her clothes and had to remain soaked in menstrual blood for most of the 16 hours’ detention. She was also afraid of getting toxic shock from the tampon she had to use while in custody.

Leah, a survivor of sexual abuse, was drunk at a party and after being escorted out and rejecting being handled by male officers, was arrested for assault of an officer. Despite being evidently triggered by being manhandled by men, she was treated as an aggressive drunk and officers tried to control her with their strength.

Scarlett, a child under 16 and victim of trafficking for sexual exploitation. Despite GMP being well aware of Scarlett’s status as a victim, who was often missing from home and very clearly being abused and trafficked, Scarlett was arrested by the police after being robbed, and stripsearched in a room close to the custody desk with a glass door through which anyone could see her in her underwear. She was not provided with an appropriate adult, and was wrongly told that if she objected, she would face a criminal charge. She was also allowed to refuse a solicitor despite this not being a decision a child can legally make.

Scarlett felt humiliated by her treatment and alienated from the police – something the inquiry notes is likely to have kept her under the control of traffickers by convincing her there was no escape.

ENDS

Media contact

Sinead Geoghegan, Head of Communications, media@evaw.org.uk 07960 744 502