Wiltshire women working in public life urged to report online abuse
A scheme supporting women in the public work has been renewed by Police
Wiltshire women who are working in public life are being urged to report online gender-based abuse as part of an initiative supporting them.
Following a 12-month trial, Operation Awake has been renewed by Wiltshire Police in collaboration with Salisbury Soroptimists.
Despite only a small number of complaints being received, the decision was taken to continue with the scheme on the basis that a number of cases weren't reported.
Detective Chief Inspector Lucy Thorne, lead for Violence Against Women and Girls at Wiltshire Police said it's part of a wider commitment from the Force to tackling violence against women and girls.
"This is something we in Wiltshire Police felt was an essential step to protect those women in public life," DCI Thorne said.
She added: "We want to ensure that those women who are working tirelessly to improve the lives of the communities of Wiltshire do not become victims of crime due to their work in this area or if they do, they have confidence to report that to us.”
DCI Thorne told Greatest Hits Radio that every piece of information they receive about gender-based abuse can make a difference.
"We talk about a lot that we in the police might need that little piece of the jigsaw to complete it and sometimes it might be that actually what you're telling us, whether that is in relation to experiencing domestic abuse, whether that is a female in public life, any part of that, don't think it's too insignificant to tell us because that might be exactly what we need."
Gender isn't a reason to abuse someone
Liz Batten from Salisbury Soroptomists has welcomed the move to renew the scheme - and is calling for men to stand alongside women.
She told us it's 'wrong' that women are abused simply because they're female.
Liz said: "They're giving of their time and their energy and their skills to support their local communities. They're working hard.
"If they're counsellors, they're working within a ward for, for their local residents. If they're serving, for example, on the hospital board, people like that are giving their expertise.
"We feel it's important that they get extra protection because it's wrong, that their gender is the is the factor that means that people have a go at them."
Liz says men need to be 'allies'.
She said: "It's for men and boys to also be aware of what's going on around them, because we need them to be our active bystanders, to be allies to women who might be suffering gender abuse.
"All of us have got a role to play in this."
DCI Thorne warned that anyone sending abusive messages online could get a criminal conviction.
"You need to think before you're sending anything like that that actually this person that you are sending this e-mail to is a person," she said, adding: "It might be a woman in public life. It might be a counsellor, but they are a person and that is going to affect them."