Police Failed to Address Sexual Abuse in Northern British City, Report Says
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Version 0 of 1. LONDON — The recent revelations that teenage girls were systematically raped and trafficked by gangs of older men over long periods of time in several British cities prompted a host of inquiries into why the authorities had seemingly turned a blind eye for so long. This week, a police report into the first such case to be successfully prosecuted concluded that there had been a forcewide failure to address sexual abuse in the northern city of Rochdale, but that no police officer would face serious discipline. In 2012, nine men of mostly Pakistani heritage in Rochdale and neighboring Oldham were found guilty of charges that included rape and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child. The victims, dozens of them, were overwhelmingly white, and the cases set off a debate on race, religion and ethnicity in Britain. In a pattern that has since been uncovered in similar “grooming gang” cases, including in Rotherham and Oxford, the men were found to have lured the girls with alcohol and drugs before raping them and passing them around for sex. The report by the Greater Manchester Police, which took four years to complete, reviewed the actions of 13 police officers linked to the case from 2008 to 2010. It identified instances of misconduct by seven of them. But only one officer was found to merit disciplinary action, and he was allowed to retire with no further actions taken against him, the report said. The other six were given “words of advice” from their superiors. Dawn Copley, the assistant chief constable of the Manchester force, told The Guardian that “mistakes were made and victims let down.” She also expressed regret that the report had taken so long to be issued after concerns from the Rochdale authorities that the girls could be identified led to the contents’ being redacted. |