A fake rape register

It turns out the woman who made the false complaint about being raped by someone impersonating a police officer has made false rape complaints before – in fact four of them.

Her lawyer has called for Police to maintain a register of such false (which is different to unproven) complaints. I agree, and am staggered that the Police don’t already do this. He points out that her latest complaint may not have ended up costing as much as it did, if the Police were aware of her previous history.

Council for Civil Liberties president Tony Ellis has hysterically compared the idea of a register to conjuring up “apartheid-type thoughts”. What dope is that man smoking? Apartheid?

Somewhat more sanely he argues “a register might result in anyone who had previously made a false complaint not being treated equally”.

Well yes it might, but as with the boy who cried wolf, this applies to everything in life. If you go bankrupt three or four times, people are less likely to invest in your companies. If you get sacked from your last three jobs, you are less likely to be employed.

Now I would certainly not advocate that someone who has previously made false complaints, is automatically not believed. But Police should have info on any previous false complaints, so they can make a judgement call.

I agree with Women’s Refuge that there should also be a register of convicted sex offenders and abusers of women. Absolutely. Convictions for serious crimes are not a private matter, and in my opinion all serious violent and sexual criminals should be in a public searchable directory.

The Sensible Sentencing Trust does have an offender database, but it is somewhat clunky.