Violence against women and girls has reached epidemic levels in the UK, causing the police to publish a report and deem it a “national emergency”.
Speaking at the National Police Chiefs Council, DCC Maggie Blyth, Deputy CEO of the College of Policing and National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for Violence Against Women and Girls, highlighted how the problem is growing, and with more complex types of offending such as online misogyny.
The statistics are damning, with a 37% increase in recorded VAWG-related crimes from 2018/19 to 2022/23, and an estimated 1 in every 12 women falling victim to VAWG every year, which means two million victims yearly (although this number is expected to be much higher). During 2022/23, over one million VAWG related crimes were recorded, accounting for 20% of all crime.
In February 2024, the Home Office classified VAWG as a national threat to public safety for the first time, meaning police forces are required to prioritise their response to VAWG in the same way they do terrorism and serious and organised crime.
The reports analysis identified five areas in which women and girls face the biggest threats: rape and serious sexual offences, domestic abuse, stalking and harassment, child sexual abuse and exploitation, and online and tech-enabled VAWG.
Prepare, Protect, Pursue and Prevent
The report sets out the current and future ways in which the police force is aiming to deal with VAWG. Now classed as a national threat, the same ‘4P’ approach used in counter-terrorism policing is being used with VAWG. The ‘4 P’s’ are: Prepare (forces must have the right culture, skills and resources), Protect (action is being taken to protect individuals, families and communities), Pursue (perpetrators of violence are relentlessly pursued) and Prevent (policing must work with partners as part of a whole-system approach).
Over 4,500 new officers have been trained in dealing with the complex crime that is VAWG, and arrests for domestic abuse, one of the biggest demands on policing, have increased by over 22% compared to previous years.
The police plan to maximise the use of technology and intelligence to create a new invigorated approach to catching and managing the offenders, as well as creating a dedicated policing hub to support forces with specialist knowledge and training.
However, the police have also called upon the support and direction of the government to now intervene and address the current problems within the criminal justice system to enable a whole-system approach to VAWG.
With the very recent triple murder of a mother and her two daughters by an ex-partner, it is all too clear that actions must be taken to protect women from VAWG.
