Survivors of rapes and sexual assaults deciding whether to report to the police "will be believed," the chief of Avon and Somerset Police has said.

Since 2021, the police force has been working with academics to develop a new way of investigating sexual offences, which is now being rolled out nationally as Operation Soteria. Avon and Somerset Chief Constable Sarah Crew, who is also the senior responsible officer of the operation nationally, said the change meant the force was less reliant on victims and more focussed on gathering information about perpetrators.

She said: "We are trying very very hard to win back that trust by absolutely tackling the perpetrators who do this, rather than focussing necessarily on the victims, and also looking at ourselves as an institution and the people within it to make sure we do deserve that trust and confidence."

CC Crew was speaking at the monthly Police Question Time hosted by police and crime commissioner Clare Moody, which took the form of a panel on male violence against women and girls to mark the global campaign against gender based-violence. Asked what she would say to someone thinking about whether or not to report a rape or sexual assault, CC Crew said: "You'll be believed. I think that's the most important thing we can say; so often people think they won't be."

She said: "This is something that has come from our work with academics: you're in control. This isn't the police taking the power away from you. This is working with you and involving you in the decisions to be made about what happens next."

She added: "We do understand those concerns about privacy as well. Through the work we have done, we are very careful that we are only asking for information where it's necessary to fulfill what you want us to achieve.

"We are very mindful of the intrusion and we want to minimise that as much as possible. And it is done with your consent."

CC Crew said that police were there to support survivors, but said that people could also go to independent sexual violence advisors (ISVAs) for help guiding them through the process. Sarah O'Leary, CEO of Next Link Domestic Abuse Services and Safe Link, who was also on the panel, said: "Our ISVA's can make sure someone's informed of their choices, making it really clear that you don't have to report but these are the options if you do want to."

She said: "There is support out there even if you know you don't want to report."

Campaigner and author Laura Bates said: "I am patron of Somerset and Avon Rape and Sexual Abuse Support [SARSAS] and in that role I have seen first hand the people behind the statistics and the toll it takes on victims/survivors when they come up against those many barriers of not being believed, of being blamed for what has happened, of having a poor response or a bad experience in the criminal justice system, and the retraumatisation that can entail.

"So I think that I would say to a survivor making that decision is that there is no right or wrong decision, that it is your choice, that you are not alone, that what has happened is not your fault, and that that brilliant independent support from services like Rape Crisis is available to you regardless, including if you chose not to report to the police."

She added: "It's so great to hear about the work that's being done and the progress that's being made. But the statistics remain very very low. Nationally, there is about a 2% chance that if someone reports a rape to the police it will result in a charge of summons."

While the figures are low, CC Crew said that the rate of charges in Avon and Somerset had increased from 3% to 8% in the last three years. In the last year, she said the number of people reporting rapes and sexual assaults to the police had increased by 40% and the number of charges had increased by 76%. She said: "That is significant and it continues to go up. So justice really is possible — and other victims are feeling confident in reporting to us."

But she added: "If people don't want to report and go through the criminal justice process but they are able to give us some information about the perpetrator then we will explore that perpetrator. […] There is the criminal justice route but just sharing the information via a third party and remaining anonymous gives us a clue which, added to other clues, gives us an ability to find those perpetrators and put the onus and the focus on them."