Tackling violence against women and young girls Strategy

Our strategy for tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG or V.A.W.G). We are committed to making Dorset a safe place for all women and girls and to relentlessly pursuing the perpetrators of violence against them.

Our PDF version of the Tackling Violence Against Women and Young Girls Strategy

Foreward

I want to outline our clear commitment to tackling violence against women and girls in Dorset. While Dorset is the fifth safest county in the country, we recognise it is not always safe for them, they can experience violence and discrimination and this can have a devastating impact on lives. They are also subject to behaviours and intimidation that makes them feel unsafe. Our vision for policing in Dorset is a safe county for everyone: it is imperative that all women and girls are not only safe, but feel safe in Dorset.

We take offences of this nature really seriously and are committed to doing everything we can to bring offenders to justice. However, recent significant events across the country will have impacted on public confidence and has further galvanised policing to increase our efforts to improve practice.

The National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) is clear that tackling violence against women and girls is a priority for policing and has developed a national strategy under the leadership of Deputy Chief Constable Maggie Blyth. It recognises the critical role the police play in preventing harm and bringing offenders to justice, whilst working in partnership with stakeholders. It is crucial to work with partners to tackle violence against women and girls, since many of the underlying causes are societal and prevention is more favourable than enforcement.

Dorset Police approach reflects the national direction, recognising the many forms of violence against women and girls including a focus on areas of greatest risk to them. Areas such as domestic abuse, stalking, harassment, rape and sexual offending shall remain force priorities, with determined and relentless work to protect and achieve justice for those affected. We are shaping and improving our services to meet the needs of victims, we are ensuring our response focus’s heavily on perpetrators and we are working with a wide range of partners to prevent these crimes and incidents happening in the first place.

In addition, we are also working closely with the Crown Prosecution Service and victim services to improve the experiences of women and girls through the criminal justice system as a whole.

Whilst this is the strategy of Dorset Police, policing alone cannot deliver it. The engagement of women, girls, men and boys, will be vital. By working together to address the issues of disproportionality in crimes affecting women and girls, we can have more influence in changing the negative cultures and behaviours that have become ingrained in society over time. I am delighted that Dorset have invested in their own strategy to protect women and girls in our communities which runs in parallel with the national strategy.

The other key aspect of our work is our own internal police culture and behaviours. We understand that the public will not have confidence in us if we don’t provide an environment where women who work for Dorset police are valued, feel safe and can thrive – free of any forms of harassment or discrimination and with every opportunity to succeed. We will continue to build a positive and inclusive culture, where the highest professional standards are expected and upheld. Dorset Police are committed to tackling internal police perpetrators of VAWG and inappropriate misogynistic cultures.

I pledge that Dorset Police today gives our communities across our county the reassurance and confidence that we are committed to doing everything in our power to accurately identify and pursue perpetrators quickly and to look after and protect victims.

ACC Rachel Farrell - Dorset Police

The Safety of Woman and Girls in Dorset and Across the Country is a Shared Priority

Violence against women and girls is not just unacceptable, it’s not just illegal, it’s a violation of women’s fundamental human rights and as a Police and Crime Commissioner, I know that a ‘whole system approach’ is needed which draws together partners from across the board to affect the societal change that’s needed.

These crimes are deeply harmful, they can have a profound effect on victims, survivors and their loved ones. They also impact our society in much wider context, affecting the freedom and equality we all should value and enjoy.

That is why my office is seeking to deliver on a series of key areas in order to affect the change that is required. We are commissioning services of excellence, that deliver impactful support to victims of crime to ensure their voices are heard. We are working with multi-agency groups, including Dorset Police to ensure the needs of women and girls are at the heart of the strategic response and we have put violence against women and girls (VAWG) at the heart of my Police and Crime Plan in the priority to ‘Fight Violent Crime and High Harm’ at the same time as fulfilling my role to hold the Chief Constable to account for delivery in this area of policing.

This strategy, sets out how Dorset Police are going to tackle VAWG and I wholeheartedly support the work that will be happening day in, day out, across our county not only to prevent harm from happening in the first place, but to also deter and punish those involved in such reprehensible crimes. No matter who commits such crimes, no matter where such crimes occur – on our streets or behind closed doors - victims and survivors will be listened to, support will be given and action will be taken.

I recognise that one organisation alone cannot solve VAWG, but this strategy and the multi-agency commitment to tackling violence against women and girls, is a stepping stone towards making the changes that are needed.

David Sidwick - Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner

Objectives

Improve trust and confidence of Dorset communities and victims in our commitment to tackling VAWG offences and the effectiveness of our response in both prevention and bringing offenders to justice.

Improve the trust and confidence of Dorset communities in our commitment to tackle internal police perpetrators of VAWG or inappropriate misogynistic cultures. Make Dorset Police a place which our female officers and staff say is inclusive and respectful and where women thrive at work free from prejudice, discrimination, and any types of inappropriate sexual or misogynistic behaviours. Work with community safety partners and voluntary sector to ensure that together we create safer online and public spaces for women and girls.

Make Dorset Police a place which our female officers and staff say is inclusive and respectful and where women thrive at work free from prejudice, discrimination, and any types of inappropriate sexual or misogynistic behaviours.

Work with community safety partners and voluntary sector to ensure that together we create safer online and public spaces for women and girls.

Provide a demonstrable shift in focus to ensure our proactive and reactive response to VAWG offences focuses heavily on relentlessly pursuing perpetrators, identifying and actively targeting and managing those who pose heightened risk and using a full range of powers to prevent and disrupt behaviours and reduce offending. Through Operation bluestone / Soteria and working with other criminal justice partners, ensure delivery of improved investigation standards, support to victims and criminal justice outcomes for rape and serious sexual offences (RASSO).

Working with other criminal justice partners, ensure delivery of improved investigation standards, support to victims and criminal justice outcomes for domestic abuse and stalking offences.

Priority Areas

This strategy has been written referencing the NPCC Executive Summary & Performance Insight reports and the Police National VAWG Framework. It takes into consideration the Casey Report and VAWG Super complaint.

The priority areas have been identified as:

• Improve trust and confidence in policing
• Relentlessly pursuing perpetrators
• Create safer spaces

It is recognised that success is rarely achieved alone, and policing will have to work with partners, both statutory and non-statutory alongside communities to achieve our ambition.

Work is already well established within Dorset around those key areas which disproportionately impact women and will be co-ordinated through this strategy.

Those include:

• Domestic abuse
• Rape and serious sexual offences
• Child sexual abuse and exploitation
• Stalking and harassment
• Female genital mutilation, Honour Based Violence, Forced

Collectively, this will contribute to ensuring we are tough on VAWG offenders, we are keeping women and girls safe and are putting victim’s first.

Building Trust & Confidence

Quite rightly, our communities expect and should see the highest level of professional standards from our officers and staff. Police Officers and staff regularly have contact with the most vulnerable people across Dorset, and in the main do so meeting those high standards expected. We will not forget that a minority in policing will choose to abuse those powers and like all forces we have seen examples of this within Dorset. In particular, the response to reports of VAWG against serving officers will be a priority of the force as we recognise and acknowledge the confidence and mistrust some will have in policing due to previous experiences and recent events nationally. In response to this we will:

• Maintain a zero-tolerance approach to staff who abuse their position and undertake any violence and intimidation to women and girls or abuse the position they hold for sexual gain.
• Ensure the Force has meaningful internal engagement at all levels and creates a culture that upholds our standards and ethics, supports those who challenge, and empowers all to develop and flourish. We will work with the support networks and staff associations to deliver a range of work that will support staff focused on VAWG.
• Ensure our vetting procedures are irrefutable and that all information is regularly reviewed to ensure the quality of those entering and working in the service and to identify individuals of risk.
• Utilise data from cross force sources to ensure we have a strategic overview, allowing predictive analysis of potential misconduct.
• Stipulate a statutory responsibility to challenge, report or take action against the conduct of colleagues which has fallen below the standards of professional behaviour.
• Develop inclusive leadership instilling the Code of Ethics and Standards of professional behaviour at all levels to challenge VAWG, change culture and robustly deal with perpetrators.
• Create safe spaces for our workforce to report lived experiences and observed misconduct.
• Work with all forces and national partners including the College of Policing, IOPC and NPCC to develop a suite of learning materials and deliver training for officers and staff to help identify crimes and incidents where VAWG is an aggravating factor.
• Ensure our commissioned services and suppliers have robust policies to deal with VAWG before conducting business. All of those who are already in partnership will be reviewed to ensure no bias or poor practice occurs.
• Create an environment where everyone feels they can challenge poor policy, practice and decisions at all levels in the organisation and are given the tools to do so.

Relentlessly Pursue Perpetrators

The level of detections for VAWG offences, is a focus for improvement to increase the confidence in victims The wider criminal justice delays and challenges form part of the NPCC strategy which Dorset will support, however there is much that will be done locally. In particular we will work with criminal justice partners through the local criminal justice board to put victims at the centre of the process.

We will:

• Work as part of the Tri Force Wessex VAWG gold group with Chief Officer oversight to improve outcomes and the criminal justice experience for victims and witnesses.
• Implement the new Victim’s Code into daily business and ensure staff are trained and understand responsibilities at all levels.
• Increase the use of preventative orders to protect women and girls from predatory and serial perpetrators.
• Work in partnership to identify, manage and bring to justice perpetrators with a focus on those causing the most harm to prevent and reduce offending.
• Implement local Independent review of VAWG incidents involving victim services.

Creating Safer Spaces

A strong theme that has emerged is that many women do not feel safe in public spaces and online. The lived experiences and voice of those individuals who survived violence and intimidation is key to understanding what needs to change. This change will need to be undertaken alongside national best practice working with partners to inform long term solutions.

In doing so we will:

• Develop detailed tactical plans focusing on pursue, prevent, protect and prepare to ensure a whole system approach to safer spaces
• Working closely with community safety partnerships to ensure VAWG is a priority with all members delivering against a cross organisation plan, based on place-based activity
• Take a strong collaborative partnership approach to ensure responsible authorities work closely with licensed activity to create a safe and enjoyable environment for women and girls
• Develop different ways of reporting matters to the police including third party opportunities through education, third sector and online platforms.

Prevention and Engagement

A key thread of this strategy has been that prevention is far better than responding to incidents of VAWG and will require a cross partnership and community response. We know that much of the priority outlined in the NPCC and this strategy, is formed by lived experience of women and girls and in Dorset we have historically got messaging inadvertently wrong by focusing on the victim rather than the offender.

As a result, we recognise that some women and girls could be reticent to report lived experiences, feeling they had done something wrong.

Serious Violence duty embedded within community safety partnerships.

In response to this, we will:

• Create a bespoke force VAWG engagement strategy to develop best practice and ensure ongoing dialogue with women and girls to describe lived experiences.
• Utilise offender focused prevention to identify predatory behaviour such as Operation Vigilant (will have link to press release).
• Work with all partners including community safety partnerships, local criminal justice boards, bars, nightclubs, Hospitals and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner around diversion and education solutions.
• Work with Pan Dorset Safeguarding Children’s Partnerships, educational establishments and the voluntary sector to educate young people around consent.
• Undertake a cross partner summit to discuss progress and co-ordinate future strategy.
• Ensure VAWG is a priority in our prevention strategy and across partners.
• Comms strategy to understand the issues, share learning and use right terms and language to support positive and clarity of public messaging.

Recordings of Crimes and Incidents

Dorset police has been graded as good at recording crime with high levels of crime data integrity. The government has stated they will ask forces to record crimes of violence, stalking, harassment or sexual offences where the victim perceives it to be based on their sex. The NPCC has recognised forces are undertaking work in an uncoordinated way which has not been mandated by the Home Office.

In response we will:

• Ensure incidents where VAWG is a feature, has a timely professional response.
• Monitor performance against VAWG, compliance and victims code as a priority at strategic performance reporting.
• Promote the new victims code for victims of sexual violence and domestic abuse.
• Changes to the crime record rules regarding harassment / stalking / coercive and controlling behaviour will support the VAWG From 1st June 2023 the crime with the biggest impact to the victim will be the principal crime recorded.

Monitoring and Security

• This strategy will be tracked internally and be scrutinised externally. Each workstream of the plan has been assigned a tactical lead and is being monitored by Chief Officers. We are developing opportunities for partners to challenge each other and ensure cross partnership plans are progressed in line with the ambition of this strategy and community safety partnerships. We have commenced work with the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner and both survivors with lived experience to track progress against our plan.
• We will closely monitor outcomes to understand the difference our approach is making to the safety of women and girls, reduction in crime and the prevention of offending and unacceptable behaviour.

Conclusion

Violence against women and girls has too long been a reality which is seen nationally and in Dorset.

Significant progress has already been undertaken, however the emphasis of this strategy is listening to the voice of those who have suffered violence, abuse and intimidation to ensure we provide a professional response based on needs, while working with partners to create an environment which is both safe and feels safe. We will change our internal culture to ensure officers and staff can call out poor behaviour and ensure policing reflects the high standards we set, to build confidence with women and girls no matter their background.

This strategy will seek to make both immediate and long-term cultural change in communities and policing, being refreshed in line with national direction, learning and best practice.