Women and Activists Condemn UK Police Department for Classifying Rape as a ‘Non-Emergency’ Crime

Women’s rights activists were incensed that a flier published by the Kent Police in the vicinity of their station in Great Britain listed “rape” as a non-emergency incident. A contentious discussion concerning the gravity of sexual assault and the significance of appropriate reporting protocols was spurred by the contentious material.

A notice that was discovered close to Maidstone Police Station in the United Kingdom was the subject of an article published by the BBC on Wednesday. The flyer provided information to the neighborhood about the kinds of “non-emergency inquires” that could be submitted online to Kent Police. Sadly, “rape and sexual assault” was one of the categories on the flyer.

The non-emergency channel was also the one used to receive “compliments and complaints” from customers.

The image of the document went viral on the internet, infuriating feminists and activists who could not believe the crime had been downgraded to a less serious category.

On social media, a picture of a sign with the words, “The following non-emergency enquiries can be reported online via the Kent Police website.”

The flyer had crimes listed under a prominent notice, with a wide range of categories such as “road traffic incidents,” “domestic abuse,” “fraud,” “hate crime,” “missing persons,” “rape and sexual assault,” “anti-social behavior,” “compliments and complaints,” and “contacting Kent Police (general enquiries).”

Jean Hatchet, a feminist and Twitter user, posted an image on Wednesday expressing her displeasure with it.

Hatchet took to Twitter to vent her rage at its content, “My internal screaming is drowning out my typing because of this. @kent_police have recently declared that Rape and Domestic Abuse are considered ‘non-emergency’ crimes, and have advised women not to report them in order to ease the workload of call handlers! It is no surprise that women are falling prey to the hands of men. This is a disgrace!”

As reported by the BBC, part of Kent Police’s “Click B4 U Call campaign” was a document encouraging people to use online reporting options when it makes sense to do so, as a way to reduce the workload of call handlers.

CEO of the Women’s Equality Party Catherine Smith vehemently objected to the aforementioned flyer. Smith maintained that in order to effectively communicate with those who have been victims of such crimes, a real person must be involved. She thinks that the police are not prioritizing these kinds of crimes because there is a lack of human interaction, and this tells women that their experiences are not important.

Following his viewing of the BBC report on Wednesday, Matthew Scott, the Commissioner of Kent Police and Crime, expressed regret on Twitter. He declared that the poster was totally inappropriate and inaccurate. He also agreed that it was appropriately taken down and never should have been on display. He underlined that incidents of rape and domestic abuse have never been classified as non-emergencies and that he will always give them the serious attention they require. You can find the original article here.

The poster was taken down and was replaced with a new one that provides instructions on how to report crimes to law enforcement in the most efficient manner.