#TakingAction to tackle Violence Against Women and Girls

Merseyside’s Chief Constable and Police and Crime Commissioner have pledged their 100% commitment to ending Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) as they launch a hard-hitting new campaign recognising the fears and concerns of women and girls.

The #TakingAction campaign is focused on putting the voices of women and girls at the heart of the work to tackle VAWG and sets out Serena Kennedy and Emily Spurrell’s determination to change things for the better.

The campaign builds on the work over the last three years to prevent and reduce the violence and abuse women face every day in our communities by acknowledging the scale of the ongoing issue in Merseyside. It follows on from a survey carried out with approximately 4,000 women and girls to better understand how safe they feel in the places they live, work, and socialise.

The results show that a staggering 71% of women still live in fear of a sexual assault and that 69% of women say they would not report an incident to the police.

These figures remain unacceptably high and #TakingAction is focused on ensuring there is a constant dialogue with women and girls on how partners can work together to combat it. As well as representing the views of women and girls across Merseyside, the first phase of the campaign focuses on some of the key initiatives and steps which have been introduced by Merseyside Police to change these statistics and make women and girls feel safer across our region.

That includes the use of new measures to relentlessly pursue and target perpetrators, to improved reporting mechanism and to a greater focus on ensuring women and girls are given the support and action if they are victims of VAWG.

Campaign messaging will be featured prominently across the region, including across the transport network and in the night-time economy. A giant ad van will also carry these messages around key locations in the region, while encouraging people to find out more about the work underway to prevent offences, protect women and girls and provide enhanced support.

As part of the ongoing commitment to ensuring women’s voices are at the centre of this work, the two police leaders will today talk with representatives from Liverpool John Moores University and Hope University students’ unions.

Serena and Emily will take the opportunity to listen to the views of student leaders on how women’s safety can be improved as Freshers Week gets underway through Merseyside Police’s ‘walk and talk’ initiative which aims to encourage open, constructive conversations between officers and women.

Future phases of the campaign will focus on the actions being taken by the police, the PCC and community safety partners to prevent and tackle domestic abuse, followed by the other key VAWG threats, including rape and sexual assault, child sexual exploitation, tech-enabled VAWG, such as online stalking and harassment.

Each of these phases will be developed with key organisations working to support victim-survivors on Merseyside and be shared with partners across to maximise awareness and reach across the region.

Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said: “I’m delighted to launch this campaign, together with the Police and Crime Commissioner. We have been working hard over the last three years to prevent VAWG and we continue to look at ways to improve our service to women and girls.

“Together, with partners, we’ve introduced a number of initiatives since we set out our strategy in 2022 including; working with schools to educate children on the impact behaviours can have on others and what is and isn’t acceptable, the launch of the ‘Safer Streets’ campaign, which focused on preventing sexual violence in the night-time economy, we regularly identify and proactively pursue perpetrators who pose a risk of harm to women and girls, we manage offenders, which includes education, prevention, diversion, disruption and enforcement tactics and we have implemented a perpetrator programme to identify and manage domestic abuse perpetrators.

“We will continue to listen to the voices of women and girls to understand what more policing can do to keep them safe, and will put effective measures in place to respond to those fears and concerns. We are relentless in our commitment to pursue and bring perpetrators to justice in order to keep all of our communities safe, build trust and confidence with them and to improve the outcomes for victims and survivors.”

Merseyside’s Police and Crime Commissioner Emily Spurrell said: “Women’s voices must be at the heart of our work to prevent, reduce and tackle the violence and abuse they face in our communities, day in day out.

“It’s vital we continue to listen to them so we can effectively build on the work that has already been delivered but crucially, to ensure we are taking the right action to protect them, bring perpetrators justice and provide the support they need.

“Nationally, we know there is an epidemic of VAWG. Since I was elected, I have been calling for it to be treated as a national priority, so I welcome the commitment from the new Labour Government to halve offences in the next decade.

“It’s vital we are focused on driving this work locally too. The statistics set out in this campaign are hard-hitting and show the scale of the issue right here in Merseyside. They are stark, but they are sadly not surprising.

“Our focus must be on doing everything possible to prevent it and showing that through the multi-agency VAWG Delivery Plan I launched in November 2022, there is a clear plan to make our region a safer place for all women and girls.

“We have made progress, but there’s much more to do. It’s vital that everyone who has a role to play in improving the safety of women and girls in our region is now focused on #TakingAction.”

Launching the #TakingAction campaign is a key action set out in the PCC’s VAWG Delivery Plan for the region focused on protecting women and girls, preventing violence, pursuing offenders and ensuring tackling VAWG is prioritised and treated with urgency which was signed by more than 50 partners.

It follows on from the Safer Streets Merseyside campaign which saw more than £560,000 invested in practical solutions and behaviour change projects to make women feel safer.

It also builds on the strategy set out by Merseyside Police in 2022 to improve its service to women and girls.

Since the launch of this strategy, Merseyside Police has:

• engaged and involved women and girls in forums and lived experience workshop so we are better placed to understand and tackle violence and intimidation they face, whilst at the same time providing them with support
• helped men understand the part they have to play in eliminating violence against women and girls with the support of the Safer Streets Campaign which was funded by the Police and Crime Commissioner
• addressed feelings of safety with the introduction of ‘Walk and Talk’ where women and girls are invited to walk with officers on a route that they feel is unsafe to discuss their concerns, and Op Nightsafe (previously Op Empower), our operation, which aims to prevent violence and sexual violence in the nighttime economy.
• worked with partners to ensure a co-ordinated and effective response to preventing and tackling VAWG.
• improved the internal culture of our force to respond effectively to address sexism, misogyny and any breaches of the standard of professional behaviour. Internally we relaunched our ‘Call it Out’ campaign, which aims to empower officers and staff to challenge, report and stop inappropriate behaviour.
• ensured we are conducting checks to see if there is a protective order in place when dealing with perpetrators.
• carried out regular strike days to target perpetrators of domestic abuse.
• This is in addition to a number of new operational methods including reviewing how rapes are investigated and the support services available to support victims of sexual assault. The force has also introduced regular scrutiny meetings to review the police response to domestic abuse and new trauma informed training for officers, as a result of speaking to victim survivors, to give them a greater understanding of how different life experiences shape our options and life choices which in turn will influence interactions and decisions in work and daily life. The force also supports Operation Encompass, which aims to help children who experience domestic abuse.