[ad_1]
Police officers who have questions about the immigration status of victims of domestic abuse should not share their details with the Interior Ministry, a groundbreaking investigation concluded.
Three police oversight bodies have published a report on the first “super lawsuit”, filed by Liberty and the Southall Black Sisters, about the police practice of sharing victims’ immigration information with the Home Office.
The investigation concluded that the practice was causing “significant damage” to the public interest, as victims of crimes with “unsafe” immigration status did not report crimes to the police for fear that their information would be shared with the Ministry of the Interior. which left them vulnerable to further abuse. .
The report said that a complete firewall should be considered, avoiding any data sharing between police forces and the Interior Ministry, although it recognized that this could also be detrimental to the public interest. The government has previously rejected attempts to introduce such a mechanism into legislation.
But with respect to victims of domestic abuse where there is no clear evidence that an immigration crime has been committed, the report recommended that police immediately stop sharing their data with immigration authorities.
The investigation was carried out by the HM Police and Fire and Rescue Services Inspectorate, the Police College and the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC).
Lara ten Caten, Liberty lawyer, said: “Right now, the exchange of data between the police and the Interior Ministry leaves many in fear of reporting crimes in case they or their loved ones share their data with the authorities. immigration as a result.
“The demand for change has been growing for some time now and this report makes it impossible for the government and police to continue to ignore it.
“We ask the police and government to go beyond the recommendations in this report and commit to a data firewall to protect all victims and witnesses of crime, not just victims of domestic abuse.”
The investigation said it was unclear whether sharing information between police and the Interior Ministry about crime victims and witnesses with unsafe immigration status was for immigration enforcement purposes, but in some cases the information was used for this reason. .
It found evidence that, in some cases, the police prioritized immigration enforcement over the protection of crime victims.
Furthermore, there was no evidence that the exchange of personal data of victims between the police and the Ministry of the Interior supported the protection of victims of domestic abuse.
The three oversight bodies recommended that when officers only had concerns or doubts about the immigration status of a victim of domestic abuse and no evidence of a crime had been established, they should immediately stop sharing information with immigration authorities.
This included victims of honor abuse and female genital mutilation. The Interior Ministry revealed on Wednesday that in 2019-2020 the forces registered 2,024 crimes of abuse for honor in the first official statistics on the subject.
Instead, the report recommended that police officers should link the victim with a third party who can provide counseling.
IOPC Director General Michael Lockwood said: “Victims must be confident that regardless of their immigration status, their allegations will be vigorously investigated and given a high priority.
“Domestic abuse is a horrible crime and it is deeply disturbing that we found that vulnerable people were afraid to report crimes for fear that information would be shared with immigration authorities.”
The leader of the Council of Chiefs of the National Police for Immigration Crimes, Shaun Sawyer, Chief of Police for Devon and Cornwall, said: “The priority of the police is to protect the victims and investigate the crime, and we are extremely careful when doing anything to discourage victims from informing us. “
A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said: “Our priority is to protect the public and victims of crime, regardless of their immigration status.
“There are many examples of cases where the exchange of data between the police and the Immigration Control Service has helped vulnerable people, such as victims of domestic abuse, to access support services and secure their immigration status.
“We are closely reviewing the recommendations in this report and will respond in due course.”
