Police chief says violence against women and girls is "national emergency"

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is being called a 'national emergency' by a leading police chief as daily reports of such crimes reach almost 3,000.

In 2022/23, police recorded more than a million violent crimes against women and girls as a report from the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) and the College of Policing is published today.

That report estimates that every year at least one in 12 women will be a victim. That's around two million women.

But the true number is likely to be much high as not all crimes are reported.

The new Government has said it wants to halve the number of violent crimes against women and girls - but Claire Marshall, from Wiltshire domestic abuse charity FearFree, told Greatest Hits Radio that's going to be difficult.

"I think it's a great strategy, it's ambitious but at the moment I don't think it's a realistic target," she said.

Claire added: "We're seeing increasing escalation in terms of reporting, prevalence is still extremely and while the criminal justice system is experiencing significant delays and has challenges in terms of speed, procedures and enabling a supportive environment for people to go through the court system, these issues are still not being tackled."

The deputy chief executive of the College of Policing said violence against women and girls had “reached epidemic levels” in England and Wales and called for government intervention in the “overwhelmed” criminal justice system.

Deputy Chief Constable Maggie Blyth said the creation of a National Centre for Public Protection would support police forces with specialist knowledge and training for investigators and officers.

She added that the data from the National Policing Statement was “staggering”, with police records of violence against women and girls increasing by 37% from 2018/19 to 2022/23.

Ms Blyth said the criminal justice system was “under-performing for victims”, with the report stating violence against women and girls was at such a scale “it cannot be addressed through law enforcement alone”.

One in 20 adults or 2.3 million people in England and Wales are perpetrators of such violence every year, the report estimated, with the actual number thought to be significantly higher.

The age of offenders is also getting younger, with the average age of a suspect for child sexual abuse and exploitation now 15.

“Violence against women and girls is a national emergency."

Claire added that there are concerns around who VAWG is policed: "The experience is extremely mixed for clients," she said, adding: "Some clients say the officers they're dealing with don't understand the issues or sometimes the seriousness of the situations."

Worryingly, Claire said some clients were being put at risk of harm when officers are trying to make them safe or deal with the perpetrator.

There's also concern about the amount of time it's taking for Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS) disclosures to be made.

Under Clare's Law, people can request information about a partner's history of abuse under the 'Right to Ask' policy, or police can inform them under the 'Right to Know'.

Claire told us the delays cause a lot of issues: "People end up staying with the partners and not understanding what they may be experiencing within the relationship, so that is a matter that needs resolving," she said.

It means that FearFree aren't able to advise clients on how to move forward to keep themselves safe.

Violence against women and girls was classed as a national threat to public safety by the Home Office in February 2023 and Ms Blyth said a national framework had brought the police response in line with that of counter-terrorism.

More than 4,500 new officers have been trained to investigate rape and serious sexual offences over the last year, with the report detailing a 38% increase in charges for adult rape from the year ending December 2022 to the year ending December 2023.

Child sexual abuse and exploitation offences also increased by 435% between 2013 and 2022, the report estimated – from just over 20,000 to nearly 107,000.

The NPCC said police forces were seeing “ever more complicated types of offending” causing “significant harm to victims and society as a whole”.

Arrests for domestic abuse related offences increased by more than 22% in the year ending March 2023, compared with the previous period, with one in every six murders in 2022/23 being related to domestic abuse.

Ms Blyth, who is NPCC lead for violence against women and girls, said society needed to “move forward” and “no longer accept violence against women and girls as inevitable”.

She added: “A centralised hub within policing that brings together specialised skill sets and capabilities would support police forces in improving their response to violence against women and girls.

“However, this will only achieve progress as part of a wider, effective criminal justice system, which at present is overwhelmed and under-performing for victims.

“Violence against women and girls is a national emergency.

“We need the support and direction of government to intervene and address the current problems within the criminal justice system and lead the way on a whole-system approach to violence against women and girls.”

Report findings described as "alarming"

Sophie Francis-Cansfield, head of external affairs at Women’s Aid, said the report’s findings were “alarming”, adding that many survivors do not report their experiences meaning the issue is “much larger than the data shows”.

Ms Francis-Cansfield added: “Women’s Aid agree that violence against women and girls is a national threat, and echoes calls for a whole-system approach to tackling the problem and centres the most marginalised.

“This includes co-ordination between the criminal justice system, the government, and experts, and enhanced training and education, delivered by specialist services, to those working in statutory services like the police.

“Without meaningful collaboration and action, women and children will continue to be failed when it comes to be protected and when seeking justice for the abuse they have endured.”

What needs to happen to tackle VAWG?

Clare Kelly, associate head of policy at the NSPCC, said: “The scale of offending against girls is frightening and requires a society-wide response.

“The Government should use plans to tackle violence against women and girls to set out how they will prevent all forms of child sexual abuse and ensure all child victims have a legal right to therapeutic support services.

“Tech companies must also step up to stop boys from being targeted with vile misogynistic content and put safety measures in place to prevent grooming and sexual abuse proliferating their platforms.

“Schools also need support to deliver effective relationships and sex education that is high-quality, inclusive and relevant to the realities of children’s lives, to embed a culture where girls are safe, heard and empowered and healthy relationships thrive.”

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