A Northampton based charity says non-contact sexual offences are incredibly traumatic
It's as police officers across England and Wales will receive training in how to handle these offences.
An organisation based in Northampton is welcoming news that police officers across England and Wales will now receive training in how to handle non-contact sexual offences.
This refers to any sexual gesture that is unwanted.
It can include upskirting, voyeurism and exposing yourself to others.
These can often serve as a gateway to more serious violent crimes.
'Incredibly traumatic' for those who experience them
Kat Hymas is from ICENA, a non-profit social enterprise, set up in 2019 by a team of individuals working on the frontline with survivors of sexual violence:
They aim to drive empowerment and social change by providing training and consultancy, and use the funds to sustain critical services for people in the UK who need support after sexual assault.
She tells us no type of sexual violence is worse or better than another:
"Non contact sexual offenses are incredibly traumatic for the people who experience them. Therefor training is essential to chance attitudes behaviours and beliefs around this.
"We know from experience of working with survivors, that when they do report these types of offences to the police, they feel they don't get the same response as if physical contact was made."
Victims often feel they're taken less seriously by police
Kat Hymas from ICENA says we need to take these kind of offences seriously:
"In reality there are no more serious or less serious acts, no type of sexual violence is worse or better than another.
"It's always about the person who is experiencing it who gets to determine the impact of what they've experienced."
She feels training will help change beliefs:
"Training will start to transform some of these underlying beliefs, some of the underlying attitudes that allow society to not take these offences as seriously, despite the fact that they cause trauma to survivors.
"They have wide ranging impacts on their personal lives, on their everyday existence, on their relationships with their family, friends, colleagues."
Their behaviours can escalate into committing sexual assault
The online learning module has already been completed by more than 2,000 officers and is being rolled out across England and Wales.
The course was designed with the help of the mother of murdered student Libby Squire.
Ms Squire thinks Pawel Relowicz exposed himself to Libby months before he raped and killed her.
During his trial, the jury heard Relowicz had a string of past non-contact sexual offences, including masturbating in public.
Data from 2022 shows the overwhelming majority of sexual exposure crimes and offenders do not come in contact with the police.
There is some evidence that greater levels of interaction with victims during sexual exposure may be a risk factor for offenders who move to contact sexual offending.