POLICE WANT RAPE VICTIMS CELL PHONES TO GUARANTEE CASE PROCEEDS
So this doesn’t make any sense. At all. Victims of rape already have major hurdles ahead of them if they go to the authorities. Their privacy is at peril. But they are also at risk all over again, just trying to face their accusers and trying to get justice. So I don’t understand, at all, why England and Wales have done this. But what have they done, you ask? So from here on out, rape victims in the UK and Wales could have the police drop their cases if they don’t give them their cell phones. So rape victims face major privacy issues, and so much else as well.
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IF YOU’RE RAPED, THE UK POLICE MAY VICTIMIZE YOU ALL OVER AGAIN
So think about it. Pretty much everything about you is now related to your cell phone. Where you were at all times. Who you spoke to. Pictures. Family business. But you get the idea. Everything about you and a lot about your friends and family is suddenly a matter of record for the police. But why should police get access to all of the most intimate data of rape victims? So here it gets even worse. Say you are a rape victim and you report the crime to authorities. But maybe you also committed a crime. Maybe you ordered pot delivered to your home. But if you don’t want authorities to drop your rape case, you have to put yourself at risk of prosecution for something else.
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CLEARLY, MEN MADE THIS RULE, HEARKENING BACK TO RAPE VICTIMS FEELING LIKE SUSPECTS
So the police have made this seem understandable. But it’s pretty much unbelievable. They say they’re now asking rape victims to sign a consent form for them to seize “electronic” devices that may give them data “relevant” to their investigation of the alleged rape. But that doesn’t just mean cell phones! That could mean computers, pads, and so much more. But the consent form includes this appalling passage, “If you refuse permission for the police to investigate, or for the prosecution to disclose material which would enable the defendant to have a fair trial then it may not be possible for the investigation or prosecution to continue.”
So the UK and Wales seriously need to rethink this. Making rape victims feel like suspects is a return to an all too recent, dark era.
