Rape victims in the UK will be asked by police to turn over their mobile phones and social media access.
New guidelines in England and Wales will allow authorities request that a person alleging a crime provide access to their messages, emails, photos, and social media accounts.
The move has been introduced in a bid to stop cases from collapsing after crucial evidence emerges last minute.
The guidelines have, however, been criticised by women’s rights groups and privacy groups for “treating rape victims like suspects.” It is also feared that they will deter victims from coming forward.
Director of Big Brother Watch, Silkie Carlo, said that the move is “formalising digital strip searches of victims of serious crime.”
“It’s completely the wrong direction for police to go down,” she told Victoria on BBC News.
“They’re now burdening themselves with reams and reams of data that are irrelevant to the crime.
“We’ve seen instances where police have requested years and years of data from victims, looking at Cloud storage and social media accounts, which is naturally deterring some people from coming forward which means that there could be very dangerous criminals walking our streets.”
Providing police access to mobile phones and social media will not be mandatory, however there is a concern that an alleged victim’s failure to do so could hinder any prosecution going forward.
Rachel Krys, co-director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said that the national consent forms will feed into “…prejudices and the tendency to make a rape investigation about women’s honesty and history will be further stoked.”
She said:
“It is clear that what will be strongly implied is that if you will not handover your device, the investigation may well not be continued. It is an attempt to make intense scrutiny of victims routine and accepted, when for many years we have attempted to ensure the investigation and trial process is fair to those reporting rape.
“Making this demand of victims routine is likely to create a huge further barrier to reporting rape, as suggested by the scary tone of today’s (29 April) newspaper headlines.”
The move comes after police in the UK faced much criticism in 2017 after multiple high profile rape case fell apart when last minute evidence emerged.
One case involved student Liam Allan who had been accused of rape. The case was dropped following the late introduction of new evidence.
Police later apologised to Allan for their handling of the case.
