By Gemma Fraser
Head of content
The departments investigating rape and serious sexual assaults in Scotland are at “breaking point” after it emerged one senior officer is heading up 176 live enquiries.
Glasgow’s rape and domestic abuse units are probing a total of 584 cases, led by just four Senior Investigating Officers (SIOs), a freedom of information request has revealed.
The Scottish Police Federation (SPF) has warned of the dangers of under-resourcing, while a leading rape charity has described the situation as falling “devastatingly short” of providing the service rape survivors deserve.
Rape cases in Scotland have risen by a third over the last decade, and Police Scotland said it is reviewing the workloads of SIOs nationally to support the increased reporting of these crimes.
In 2023/24, the last full year for which figures are available, there were the equivalent of six rape crimes recorded by police every single day.
Rape Crisis Scotland chief executive Sandy Brindley said: “Despite a rise in the number of reported rapes in Scotland, support for survivors remains desperately under-resourced and under-funded.
“We know that from our own work, but these figures are a stark reminder of how this extends to policing too.
“One senior officer, no matter how skilled they are, cannot possibly oversee 176 live rape investigations properly.
“Rape is already a notoriously under-reported crime. For that to change, survivors need to feel able to report what has happened to them to police.
“They need to feel that they will be taken seriously and communicated with properly at every step of the process, and they need to feel like justice is possible.
“A handful of senior officers being given responsibility for nearly 600 ongoing cases falls devastatingly short of providing any of that.”
“Despite a rise in the number of reported rapes in Scotland, support for survivors remains desperately under-resourced and under-funded”
Rape Crisis Scotland chief executive Sandy Brindley
Between April and September last year, the total number of rape cases recorded by Police Scotland was 19.5 per cent higher than the same period the previous year.
In recent years, sexual offences have accounted for around 70 per cent of the casework of Scotland’s High Court prosecutors.
But a police source told 1919 resources allocated to the departments investigating rape crimes across the country are “nowhere near” where they should be.
“Figures show around 70 per cent of all High Court trials relate to sexual offences and yet the resources Police Scotland put into investigating rape are a fraction of the overall investigative resources they’ve got,” they said.
“The force would rather spend money on the organised crime side of the business.
“It’s a massive issue that officers working in sexual offences investigation have been flagging up for years. It is significantly under-resourced.”
The four SIOs in charge of rape and serious sexual assaults in Glasgow are all detective inspectors.
They are required to be notified immediately after a rape is reported, and to make all decisions about the direction of an investigation.
The freedom of information request revealed that the highest number of cases for an individual officer in the Glasgow division was 176.
The SPF has raised concerns over the impact this has on both victims and officers.
David Kennedy, SPF general secretary, said: “The service is breaking them and some of those officers are broken.
“We can’t continue to have a police service that does more with less.
“We are spinning workloads like spinning plates and that ultimately only ends one way.”
Police Scotland Assistant Chief Constable Steve Johnson told 1919: “The significant increase in reporting of rape and sexual crime indicates a growing confidence in victims to come forward knowing they will be listened to, supported and that their case will be fully investigated.
“Work is ongoing across the organisation to support our vision of policing, which includes strengthening the frontline and ensuring we have the right people in the right places to meet this increased demand.
“We are also reviewing the workloads of SIOs nationally to develop an approach which ensures every report receives the best investigation and that SIOs are supported in dealing with the increase in demand.
“Senior Investigating Officers provide oversight to large teams of specialist detectives who carry out a range of different roles as part of these detailed investigations.
“Preventing rape and sexual crime is our ultimate goal and we work closely with a range of partners and across communities to tackle violence against women and girls.”