Detectives are warning young people in Cumbria that they need to fully understand sexual consent or they may face the “life changing” consequences of their actions.
It's part of Cumbria Constabulary’s Do The Right Thing campaign, which targets potential sexual or violent offenders.
This week, there is a focus on the subject of rape/sexual assault, and an awareness raising campaign will be taking place all week on social media around the complex topic of sexual consent via #dotherightthing.
Between 1st February 2015 and 31st July 2015 there were 427 incidents reported to Cumbria Constabulary.
This consisted of 135 incidents of rape, 266 other sexual offences and 26 N100s.
The majority of rapes and other sexual offences occur where the offender is known to the victim, stranger rapes are rare.
DI Jenny Beattie says: “People often think that for something to be termed ‘rape’ that the victim will say ‘no’ or push the offender away.
"However, consent is much more complicated than that – for example, someone could be too scared, confused, or intoxicated, to actively push someone away or to say ‘no’.
“It is vital young people understand what defines rape or sexual assault in a court of law. We often hear victims say in interview that they ‘froze’ or just didn’t respond as they hoped that the other person would stop when they didn’t get a reaction.
"It is essential that potential offenders don’t take this for a sign of consent.
“I hope this campaign educates young people and debunks common misconceptions people often have – consent is not based on if someone has had sex with you on a number of previous occasions, or has a reputation for being promiscuous, or doesn’t hit you and push you off.
"It is vital to ensure anyone you have sexual relations with is both actively willing and capable of informed consent.
“I would urge all young people to ensure that they have full consent of anyone they are intimate with or they will face the life changing consequences.”
Police and Crime Commissioner Richard Rhodes said: “Understanding sexual consent is absolutely key, and I welcome any initiative to help educate young people about this.
"As we can see from some of the real-life quotes below, the concept of consent is clearly not understood by some individuals, and we must do what we can to address the many misconceptions that exist.”