New police centre to tackle VAWG

The government has announced a new intelligence-led national policing centre, which will put he experiences of victims of child sexual abuse, rape and sexual offences, domestic abuse and stalking at the heart of police investigations.

The new centre will be backed by more than £13 million of government funding.

The National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection will be run by the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the College of Policing, and will be based in Ryton.

The centre will bring together around 100 officers and staff to prioritise tackling violence against women and children across England and Wales.

Police will now to be able to use a national coordinating function, which will make sure victims get a consistent level of support, wherever they are in the country.

When it launches in April, the centre will build on existing areas of work to roll out new quality training for police officers across the country in tackling violence against women and girls and child sexual abuse; professionalise public protection work within policing so that future police leaders will all be expected to have built up experience and training in public protection roles; and deploy intelligence-led tactics used to target other serious offenders to pursue domestic abusers, rapists and stalkers.

There will also be effort to work with the National Crime Agency to ensure that all forces are supported to respond to online child sexual abuse; drive up investigative and operational standards across all 43 police forces in England and Wales in tackling these crimes; train more police officers in the skills necessary to tackle violence against women and girls and child sexual abuse; and ensure the latest academic research informs investigative practices.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "Women and girls experience violence and abuse each year, yet for far too long it just hasn’t been taken seriously enough by policing, the criminal justice system or the government.

"Warm words are not enough. We need to drive up standards and start treating the epidemic of violence against women and children with the seriousness it deserves.

"We have national specialist standards and leadership on serious and organised crime, terrorism and public order, but not on public protection – even though it needs proper specialist skills and training to go after dangerous perpetrators and keep victims and survivors safe. That is why we are setting up the first policing national centre for public protection to drive up standards and tackle these terrible crimes."

The centre will unify three existing victim-orientated policing programs – Operation Soteria, the national VAWG Taskforce and the Vulnerability Knowledge and Practice Programme.

It is hoped the announcement will build confidence in victims to come forward to report crimes to the police, knowing they will receive the service they deserve.

T/CC Maggie Blyth, National Police Chief’s Council lead for Violence Against Women and Girls said: "We welcome the official announcement and the financial support from government to implement a national centre to further protect victims and enhance our specialist capability to target perpetrators.

"The centre will build on existing police work and progress made in tackling violence against women and girls, allowing us to mandate nationwide improvements to support forces and frontline officers to carry out their jobs effectively.

"Our officers work tirelessly every day to bring offenders to justice and keep people safe, but we need to do more and that starts with equipping our officers with the right training and support to be able to investigate effectively, in the same way as we would provide specialist training to firearms or public order officers. We also need to better support victims through the criminal justice process and alongside partners, we will drive improvements for swifter justice and a quicker more robust response when people seek our help."

Assistant Chief Constable Tom Harding, the College of Policing’s director of operational standards, said: "Policing is dedicated to protecting women and girls by targeting those who seek to harm them; and ensuring victims have the confidence to come forward, that they are listened to, treated compassionately and receive the best possible service.

"We’ll place victims at the heart of the new centre and work across law enforcement, government and both the public and voluntary sectors to boost the training we give to officers. The College of Policing will support forces to achieve the highest possible standards and improve the response to violence against women and girls."