Tackling Male Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG)
Hampshire Constabulary is committed to tackling violence against women and girls perpetrated by men. Violence, intimidation and harassment of any kind towards women and girls is not acceptable in any form.
Every day, we know that women and girls experience incidents at school, at work, on public transport, in open spaces, on the street, and at home.
Many of these incidents go unreported. Many women feel that sexual harassment and violence is almost an inevitable part of being a woman.
We know that far more needs to be done to tackle this. The National Police Chief’s Council has developed a framework for all UK police forces to ensure that tackling violence against women and girls is a priority.
It is our priority and we are doing something about it.
That is why we have developed a dedicated Violence Against Women and Girls Action Plan - (accessible version) - which is clear that in order to effectively tackle male violence against women and girls, it will take more than just the effort of policing and our partners, we need societal change.
This plan is our step towards making Hampshire and the Isle of Wight safer for women and girls.
What does this mean?
Night Time Economy
It means we are policing streets differently, in our cities, we are proactively patrolling to spot men displaying predatory behaviour. We are specifically doing this near pubs and clubs on the weekends and working with security and bar staff to spot those who need our help, and intervene when something doesn’t look right. We’re arresting, we’re issuing Community Protection Order and we’re issuing dispersal orders.
Drink spiking
We’re also tackling drink and needle spiking.
Our licensing teams, alongside Neighbourhood Policing Teams, have been working relentlessly with bars and clubs in cities in Hampshire and on the Isle of Wight to educate all venues in those respective night time economy areas, ensuring that they are all ‘spike aware’, and that staff are able to care for people who are reporting they have been spiked.
We have also invested in multi-drug urine test kits – which give an immediate reading and help us obtain early evidence - for use across the whole of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight and have been successfully utilised by officers when responding to drink-spiking related incidents.
The National Police Chief's Council has recently developed guidance on what to do if you've been spiked.
StreetSafe tool
We're also collating data from the StreetSafe tool, which allows people to anonymously report where they have felt unsafe to help us understand how we can improve feelings of safety in particular areas, whether that's behavioural or environmental issues.
Domestic violence
It means we are going after the most high risk perpetrators of domestic violence who continue to commit abuse again and again, and offering additional support for victims.
We are making more visits to those who need our help and encouraging them to access support.
At the same time, we are visiting the abusers more in order to encourage them to address their offending behaviour. We are disrupting. The majority of the abusers are men, which is why this is so important in tackling violence against women and girls.
We are also increasing our use of Domestic Violence Protection Notice Orders and Stalking Protection Orders to protect women from further harm when we cannot bring a charge, or when the victim doesn’t support a prosecution.
Crown Prosecution Service
We are listening to victims more and more about their experience with reporting and the criminal justice system in order to improve victim experience and build trust.
Whilst working closer and closer with the Crown Prosecution Service to provide quality investigations to get rape and serious sexual offences to court, and challenging the long-standing societal myths that surround these crimes.
Our role as the police is an important one, but we must remember that any culture change requires a cross sector, multi-agency approach to really make a change.
We are actively ensuring our officers and staff know how to report discriminatory or unethical behaviours via our internal reporting systems, and we are telling the public when an officer has breached the standards expected or committed a criminal offence, and what action we have taken.
Home Office 'Enough' campaign
The Government has re-launched their ‘Enough’ campaign which is aimed at helping to reduce violence against women and girls in society. We can all do our bit to keep women and girls safe by recognising behaviour and calling it out.
Home Office TV advert:
Further support and guidance
If you want to find out about the support services we offer, go to our advice pages.
We’re here to help.
Domestic violence
Stalking and harassment
Rape and sexual assault
Sex worker safety
Forced marriage
If you think you’ve been a victim of crime and need our help, always call us on 101, or 999 if it’s an emergency.
Alternatively, you can report online.