Focus needs to change over violence against women and girls, says chief constable

More than 17,000 violent crimes were committed against women and girls in Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent during a 12-month period, a police performance report has revealed.

Stoke saw 35 per cent of incidents – 6,200 in total – while 11,374 (65 per cent) were reported in the rest of Staffordshire between December 2020 and November 2021.

The report said: “The force aims to improve services and partnership working to prevent violence, protect those who feel unsafe and to bring justice to those affected.

“The problem cannot be solved by policing alone and requires a wider societal response and commitment to improve the lives and experiences of women and girls.”

Chief Constable Chris Noble told Thursday’s police performance meeting: “In terms of the approach (to tackling violence) itself, there was a really interesting tweet I picked up on that talked about it being time to move the discussion in this area away from issues around women’s safety, or indeed women’s behaviours, to the fact it’s about men’s danger to women.

“Quite rightly, a lot of the work we and our partners do is about keeping people safe, is about street lighting and focusing on particular premises.

“But fundamentally I think the big shift for policing around tackling the issue is focusing on the perpetrators, challenging people because of their behaviours, where they are and what they’re doing and focusing this on the offenders and the offending behaviour – as opposed to at times quite a patronising if not offensive approach, telling people how much they should drink and what they should wear.

“This feels different to me – there is at least an intention to treat this differently.”

The approach was welcomed by Staffordshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Ben Adams and his deputy, Helen Fisher.

Mrs Fisher said: “It is good to hear it’s not about women’s behaviour, how they dress and what they have to drink. It’s the men, the perpetrators. It’s very powerful.”

Mr Adams said: “That is exactly the sort of message that women want to hear.

“There’s a real appetite at every level to push this agenda. There is a sense that there is a change in cultural attitude now.

Mr Noble added that work to tackle violence against women and girls also involved focusing on police conduct.

When he was appointed to the top post last year he vowed to take a zero tolerance approach to any unacceptable officer behaviour after a former Met Police officer was convicted of murdering Sarah Everard.

Wayne Couzens’ actions appalled the nation, as well as sparking concerns about the safety of women approached by lone officers, after he tricked the 33-year-old into getting into a car by pretending he was arresting her for a Covid-19 lockdown breach.

Mr Noble said: “I think it very much starts from within policing, about being very honest about the standards and behaviours we have.

“Very often police officers will have sole access to very vulnerable women and girls and it’s incredibly important we don’t add to their harm or trauma, but they can trust us and we are key to bringing offenders to justice and helping them start to recover from what’s happened.

“We’ve seen some of the highest profile cases involving people who should have had the highest levels of public trust and confidence in their behaviour.

“I think that’s something that feels very close to the bone, quite rightly, for policing in terms of our standards and what the public expect of us. And that needs to be earned, it’s not given.”