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.

A flashpoint in a much bigger justice failure

The Kent flyer drew such fury because it touched a raw nerve: across England and Wales, rape and serious sexual offences are already widely seen as crimes the system fails to take seriously. The numbers bear that out. In the year ending March 2025, police recorded 71,667 rape offences — yet less than 3% of cases that year resulted in a charge, let alone a conviction. Rape Crisis England & Wales notes that just 2.7% of rapes reported to police lead to a charge in the same year. A 2020 report by leading women’s organisations went so far as to argue that rape had been effectively “decriminalised,” with prosecutions and convictions at their lowest since records began.

Survivors left waiting years for trial

Even when a case is charged, survivors face crushing delays. Rape Crisis figures show the Crown Court backlog has hit successive record highs: by the end of December 2025 there were 80,203 cases outstanding overall, with sexual offence cases reaching roughly 14,749 — a 75% jump in three years. Adult rape survivors now wait an average of well over a year — frequently far longer — between an offender being charged and the case concluding, and one in three rape trials is postponed at least once. The charity warns that a rape survivor in London being given a trial date today could be told it will be listed in 2029 or 2030. Such delays drive many survivors to withdraw entirely; in the year to June 2024, 59% of adult-rape victims dropped out before a charge was even brought.

Reform efforts and persistent shortfalls

Authorities have responded with Operation Soteria, a joint police-and-CPS programme built on academic research that shifts investigations toward the suspect’s behaviour rather than scrutinising the victim. Rolled out across all 14 CPS areas, it has helped push charges and prosecutions upward — the CPS charged 2,572 adult-rape suspects in 2023/24, up more than 34% on the prior year. But campaigners stress that progress at the investigation stage means little while an under-funded, barrister-short court system cannot actually hear the cases, leaving survivors trapped in what Rape Crisis calls “living in limbo.” The Kent poster, in that light, was less an isolated blunder than a symbol of how routinely the system signals to women that their most serious experiences are treated as an afterthought.

If you have experienced sexual violence in the UK, support is available from Rape Crisis England & Wales and the 24/7 Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Line.

Watch: Why so few UK rape cases end in conviction