All police forces to get specialist sexual offence teams, Mahmood pledges

The government says the new teams will have officers with specialist investigation skills for working on rape and sexual offence cases.
More than 50% of police forces already have these teams in place, but the government says every force will have dedicated officers by 2029.
It says staff will have the right training to understand the mindset of abusers and victims.
Announcing the move, the home secretary said: “This government has declared violence against women and girls a national emergency.
“For too long, these crimes have been considered a fact of life. That’s not good enough. We will halve it in a decade.”
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley welcomed the move, saying the government will replicate tactics used by the Met in its existing V100 programme.
The V100 programme uses data to identify and target men who pose the highest risk to women.
Sir Mark said the Met applies the “same relentless determination we use to combat terrorism to tackle violence against women and girls”, adding: “We built an entirely new system focused on pursuing and prosecuting men who commit violence and I am pleased the government is now asking all forces to have the same principle.”
Also announced is a roll out of domestic abuse protection orders, which have been trialled over the last year, across England and Wales.
They can ban individuals from contacting a victim, visiting their home or posting harmful content online, and can also be used in cases involving coercive or controlling behaviour. Breaching an order is a criminal offence.
There will also be almost £2m in investment for special undercover units of police officers operating online – to target those harassing women and girls on the internet.
A report released earlier this month found that more than a quarter of police forces in England and Wales had not implemented basic policies for investigating sexual offences.
It said sexually-motivated crimes against women in public remained widespread, criticised the limited nature of data on them, and called for urgent action to prevent predators from offending.




