the country's only news agency specialising in disability issues
Police forces and prosecutors are both finally working to increase the number of disability hate crime prosecutions in England and Wales, as the number of court cases remains stubbornly low, despite a long-awaited rise. Disability News Service (DNS) has been reporting […]
Police chiefs have finally agreed to keep a promise they made more than four years ago to investigate why their forces were passing on so few disability hate crime cases to prosecutors. The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) announced in November 2021 […]
A culture of institutional disability discrimination within the Metropolitan police is exposed today by the former head of its disabled staff association. Dave Campbell, who retired this year after serving 32 years as a police officer, has told Disability News Service […]
Prosecutions of disability hate crime plummeted again last year, with less than 300 cases taken forward by prosecutors, despite police forces in England and Wales recording more than 10,000 offences. It is now the seventh year in succession that Disability News […]
A new national agreement that will limit how often police respond to incidents involving people in mental health crisis has caused “deep concern” because of the lack of funding to support the changes, according to a user-led organisation. The national agreement […]
Activists who have used direct action to draw attention to attacks on disabled people’s rights say plans to give the police yet more new powers to shut down demonstrations show the government is weak and “running scared”. The powers would allow […]
Disabled campaigners have called for action to address systemic failings in the criminal justice system and serious failures of police leadership that have led to an “alarming” fall in the number of disability hate crime cases being prosecuted. Since 2016-17, the […]
Statistics that show that less than 350 disability hate crimes were prosecuted last year “make for woeful reading”, the Crown Prosecution Service’s national hate crime lead has told Disability News Service (DNS). As recently as 2016-17, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) […]
The performance of police forces across the country in providing justice for victims of disability hate crime is not good enough and must improve, the organisation representing senior police officers has finally admitted. The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) admitted its […]
The number of disability hate crime cases passed by police forces to prosecutors plummeted by a fifth last year, despite the number of allegations reported by disabled people rising by more than 40 per cent. Police forces across England and Wales […]