Silent Crime: What you need to know about support for victims of crime
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00:00Hi, I'm health journalist Sarah McCann and today I'm joined by Victim Support Assistant Director for Knowledge and Insight, Rachael Almeida.
00:07National World is currently conducting a silent crime campaign after National World editor Nancy Fielder's mum was robbed at knife point.
00:15We'll be collecting people's experiences and presenting them to Sir Keir Starmer in Downing Street.
00:21So today we're going to be discussing about how silent crimes such as theft, antisocial behaviour can impact your mental health.
00:28So first question, Rachael, is how can crime affect your mental health?
00:33So I think there's a huge wide range of how people can respond to crime and that can depend on a number of things.
00:41So crimes such as burglary can be really personal where it feels like it's within their home and that they feel where they feel they should be most safe,
00:48that that's being violated and that can have a huge impact on their daily lives where they feel that that safe space is being taken away from them.
00:56And the fear that comes with that, whereas other other crimes can have different instances.
01:01So things like where, you know, you're out in the street and you get robbed as a robbery and that can then affect how your daily life goes and your ability to leave the house and engage in society.
01:12So there's a huge range of effects that can happen that relate to the type of incident that you experience and the type of crime.
01:19In terms of the common effects that we see across different crimes, quite often it makes people feel sort of upset and very fearful and anxious.
01:30But also it can affect their views on society, how safe they feel, how comfortable they are,
01:38and therefore have a wide effect in some of the things that can really help our mental health.
01:44So things like whether we feel confident going for a run, doing exercise in the street, going out into the office, using public transport, going to meet our friends late in the evening.
01:53Low level crime, such as silent crime, it can often go unreported.
01:57So what impact could that have on the victim's mental health, similar to the experiences that you talked about previously?
02:04Definitely. So we know the majority of crime is not reported to the police.
02:09So currently only 40% of crimes are reported.
02:12And we know that goes hand in glove with people's confidence in the police.
02:17So if people feel like crimes like burglary and theft and robbery and ASB,
02:24if they feel like the police aren't going to take them seriously or treated as an afterthought or less important,
02:30if people don't feel confident in the police's response, it can directly impact how safe they feel.
02:36Will that person come back? Nothing's happened to investigate that person's at large.
02:41They know where I live. They know how to break in. They know what's in my house.
02:44Or, you know, can I walk down the same streets if that's going to happen again?
02:48So it can really affect people's longer term fear and their ability to move on if they know that it hasn't fully been resolved.
02:56It could happen again, not only just to them, but to others as well.
03:00If you've been affected by crime, where can you go to get support?
03:04So there is support out there. That's something I'd really like to get across.
03:08There are supports of other services available.
03:10So we have victim support, provide a range of services across England and Wales.
03:14And there's different types of service so people can choose which way they want to engage with services.
03:19So we have a 24 hour support line if people would rather talk to someone immediately.
03:24But we also have live chat. So if people prefer to communicate online,
03:29to message instantly with someone without speaking on the phone, that's available too.
03:34And you can find that on our website, Victim Support.
03:38But we also have free online resources.
03:41So we have an online platform called My Support Space where people can find resources themselves
03:47and sort of self-access tools and information about what to do, how to make your house safer.
03:53There's lots of advice and information there about your rights and tips in terms of what you can do
04:00to strengthen the security systems around you.
04:03What are your rights if you've been impacted by crime?
04:06You have a right to call the police and there's certain things that you should expect from the police
04:11that is covered by something called the Victim's Code of Practice, which sets out what you're entitled to.
04:17They're not legally enforceable rights, but they are obligations that the government have put on those agencies
04:24that they should be doing.
04:25So a few things that you should receive from agencies like the police.
04:29So you have a right to have information.
04:33You have a right to have information about what the process is, what will happen to you on your case,
04:40but also about the support available.
04:43So you have a right to be referred into victim services like those provided by victim support by the police.
04:50So there's a few rights there that are really crucial and really important that those agencies deliver.