A SCRUTINY report into West Yorkshire Police’s work in solving rape and sexual offences has described its performance as a “poor and declining”.

Figures show officers charged or cautioned 21.53% of reported incidents in the 11 months to November last year.

That’s well below the average of similar sized forces, placing West Yorkshire 41 out of 43 nationally for detections for serious sexual offences.

A spokeswoman for West Yorkshire Police was yesterday unable to say how many actual incidents the percentage relates to.

But the force said it would use the report to identify areas to improve their work in dealing with incidents of rape and sexual offences.

The report, due to be presented to the West Yorkshire Police Authority’s strategic planning and sub committee, says: “The Inspection has highlighted a number of issues that may be hindering performance such as corporate focus on serious sexual offences (SSOs), lack of performance management, housekeeping issues, understanding demand, variable quality of investigations and lack of understanding of the various categories of SSOs leading to wrongly recorded offences.”

It also found:

Rape offences generally have a lower detection rate than sexual assault on a female. In 2005/06 the detection rate for rape was 24.8% against a current figure (April to November 2009) of 21.2%.

Over 90% of rape victims are female and three quarters are aged under 24.

Rape has increased by 10% and accounts for 43.6% of all SSOs (April to August 2009). The report goes on to state: “This may in part be due to the introduction of Operation Topaz and an increased confidence of victims in reporting such crime, but there is no evidence available to support this.”

There was also some confusion over who investigates SSOs and rape reports.

Operation Topaz staff investigate the majority of rape offences, the Homicide and Major Enquiry Team (HMET) investigate stranger rapes, the Child and Public Protection Unit (CPPU) investigate family abuse and territorial divisions investigate all other offences.

The report says: “Without the corporate focus on the whole suite of SSOs, the information and systems required to successfully manage this area of crime have been absent.

“There is a Rape and Serious Sexual Assault Plan which is addressing key issues concerned with dealing with rape. This does, however, highlight the fact that the force has focussed on rape for the past two years rather than the broader basket of SSOs.”

Detective Chief Inspector Marianne Huison, head of West Yorkshire Police’s Child and Public Protection Unit, said: “Since the establishment of Operation Topaz our own victim surveys and evidence from partner agencies is that victim satisfaction and confidence has increased dramatically.

“We need to build on those improvements and satisfy ourselves that we have progressed every relevant line of enquiry, ensured that victims and future victims are protected and that they receive the support they need.

“Ultimately we want victims to remain confident that when they take the difficult step of coming forward they will be treated with dignity and their complaint fully investigated in a professional manner.”