Reporting to the police is not mandatory and no one should ever make you feel pressured to make a report if you aren’t ready or don’t want to.

Talking to the police is a difficult decision, and while some people know early on they would like to go down this route for others it can take years to feel ready, and some people may never feel like they want to report what happened at all. Any of these options is fine, reporting is a personal choice and it has to feel right for you.

If you report to directly to the police, you will not be eligible for anonymous reporting as the police are duty bound to investigate any report of crime and it is not always guaranteed you will get a specially trained police officer.

The SARC service offers more comfortable facilities to report to the police and gives the option of anonymous reporting.

Yorkshire Survivor’s Pathways recommends talking with your SARC, ISVA, or local specialist service first to be fully informed about the reporting process.

How to report to the Police:

If you have decided to report to the police there are a few ways to do so:

• 999 – if the crime has just happened or you still feel under threat you can ring 999 for an immediate response.
• 101 – if you want to report directly to the police without talking it through with support services, you can ring 101 in an non emergency (the crime isn’t ongoing or just happened) who can arrange to meet with you to take your statement.
• At the police station – some people may want to attend a police station rather than picking up the phone.