Operation Soteria is seeking pilot studies of a Rape and Serious Sexual Offences Victim Impact Assessment tool

CPRL has been working on Operation Soteria since the onset and the National Operating Model for rape investigation was launched this summer based on all of the important work the research team and police partners have done.

The Soteria team was made up of 6 pillars (with CPRL as pillar 4 lead on learning and development and officer wellbeing). Our colleagues who work on the programme in pillar 3 (victim focus and procedural justice pillar) developed a Rape and Serious Sexual Offences (RASSO) Victim Impact Assessment (RVIA) tool in year two of the project.

This tool is designed to help police forces think about RASSO victims’ rights and interests when policies or procedures are being developed or changed. This came from findings, for example, that good practice in engagement with victims was inconsistent and could be dependent on individual officers rather than built into force policies.

Pillar 3 is looking to pilot this RVIA with police forces to make it as usable as possible. Ideally, we would work with you to pilot the tool when you have a relevant policy or procedures under development, so that the pilot helps refine the RVIA but is also useful to you in terms of that policy development. If you are interested in helping with this work, please contact Emma Williams at oupc@open.ac.uk and we can put you in touch with the project lead at Glasgow University.