This year, the campaign for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women focuses on the digital realm and we look at how our investigations challenge harmful and misogynistic narratives and behaviours.
The United Nations (UN) says:
“Violence against women on online platforms is, today, a serious and rapidly growing threat that seeks to silence the voices of many women—especially those with a strong public and digital presence in fields such as politics, activism, or journalism.”
While abuse may take place in the online space, it has real-life impacts which can cause lasting harm.
And while abuse may start online, it can also quickly move into real life with devastating consequences.
No case illustrates this more starkly than that of the convicted online sex offender, Alexander McCartney.
Equally it demonstrates why the UN believes that the prioritisation of ‘the prevention and elimination of digital violence, through human rights-based design approaches, safety by design, and adequate investments’ is one of the ways in which we can stop digital abuse and technology-facilitated violence against women.
Our investigation highlighted that PSNI teams tasked with detecting and investigating online child sexual abuse were under-resourced and under pressure, significantly compromising their ability to detect and prosecute offenders and keep children safe.
Speaking about the case, our Chief Executive, Hugh Hume said:
“When the initial devices were seized from McCartney in 2016, the officer responsible for investigating his online offending was part of a team that, due to absences and other factors, had only five officers in post against the complement of 14 that it was supposed to have.
“This resulted in delays in the investigation and potential prosecution of those whose activities pose such a risk to children and young people, and opportunities to proactively follow evidence to identify where indecent images of children were being shared were missed.
“Consequently, the PSNI’s ability to identify other offenders, frustrate sharing forums and ultimately protect children and young people were compromised.”
Challenging harmful and misogynistic narratives
The UN also believes we can stop digital abuse and technology-facilitated violence against women by working to "transform harmful social norms by promoting positive masculinities and challenging harmful and misogynistic narratives."
Our investigations challenge those narratives.
Take the recent case where a police officer was dismissed for sending “highly inappropriate and offensive” messages to members of the public and fellow police officers.
The messages, which were sent via WhatsApp over a number of months, including when the officer was on duty, contained material which was sectarian, racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, misogynistic and sexualised.
Our Director of Investigations, Nikki Davis, said at the time:
“When this kind of messaging specifically targets women and combines sexual, racist and sectarian references, it moves into the realm of online gender-based hate speech.
“For a police officer to display these attitudes and behaviours towards women, is unacceptable, and specifically undermines the PSNI’s commitment to ending violence against women and girls.
“However, this case demonstrates that allegations of misconduct will be robustly investigated and that officers will be held to account, all of which contributes positively to public confidence in policing.”
Take this a step further and consider the impact of predatory police behaviour.
We are currently investigating more than 20 cases of this type and our investigations show that police officers will often use digital contact as part of their grooming of victims.
When a former police officer was sentenced following his conviction for misconduct in public office after he initiated contact while on duty with a 17-year-old-girl, we highlighted the use of personal mobile phones and unnecessary communication with victims via social media, email or text, as some of the warning signs which characterise police officers’ behaviour in cases of sexual misconduct.
Investigations to support change
Although our investigative work serves to highlight cases of misconduct, we also seek to use our insights to shape and influence operational policing practice and policing policy.
We see some of the results of this work in the proposed changes to the PSNI Code of Ethics, developed by the Northern Ireland Policing Board.
We welcome the suggested additions to the Code, particularly those around digital communication and the use of social media whether in a professional or personal capacity.
The draft code now states: "Police officers shall use social media responsibly and ensure that nothing is published that is discriminatory, abusive, oppressive, harassing, bullying, victimising, offensive or otherwise incompatible with their role as a professional police officer. Police officers should note that this provision also applies to their private messages and group chats".
It also emphasises that ‘"olice officers shall not communicate with each other and with others by using misogynistic and other discriminatory behaviour and language including online or other private and public platforms".
Change from within
If we expect change outside of our organisation, then we should expect change within too.
As well as highlighting our work investigating violence against women and girls in the online space and beyond it, we are also committed to ensuring that our own staff know and understand the issues, whether they encounter them in a personal or a professional capacity.
A year ago on the International Day of Elimination of Violence against Women, which is also White Ribbon Day, we began our journey with White Ribbon NI, training all of our staff through the ‘listen, learn, lead’ programme.
In joining the White Ribbon movement, we made a pledge to never commit, condone or stay silent about violence against women and girls and we also made a commitment to taking the necessary steps, through a three-year action plan, to make our society a safer place for women: through our staff, our policies and our day-to-day work.