“Default Policing”

Rape and other forms of male violence against women and girls are an afterthought of contemporary policing. Modern police forces bear the legacy of being an arm of the law established by and for the benefit of “default"² men”. In England and Wales, the shackles of colonialism are all around us, with the beneficiaries celebrated in statute and in statue – white, privileged men. Until recently, the legitimacy of policing did not appear contingent on assuring women’s safety. There was little perceived need to reset “default policing” to bring into focus the prevention and sanction of sexual violence. This chapter introduces a shift in gaze. We look at the problem of the justice gap by posing that it is fundamentally driven by a problem of policing as a cultural institution. We outline the history, purpose, and functions of the police, what happens when the lens of “default policing” is applied to studying police practice with rape victim-survivors and shed light on how entrenched ways of working influence rape investigations. We conclude that in order to fix the police response to rape and other forms of sexual violence, we must reset “default policing” by, with, and for victim-survivors.