New £13m national policing hub announced to crack down on VAWG

The creation of a dedicated policing hub will support forces with specialist knowledge and training for investigators and officers, and lead on a national approach to preventing these crimes from happening, with other agencies.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the new centre will “drive up standards and start treating the epidemic of VAWG with the seriousness it deserves”.

Police chiefs declared VAWG a “national emergency” last year, and called for a whole-system approach that brings together criminal justice partners, government bodies and industry, to tackle the threat through prevention.

Policing mobilised its response to tackle VAWG at a national level by establishing a dedicated taskforce within the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) in 2021. Since then, the taskforce has worked with the College of Policing, the Vulnerability Knowledge and Practice Programme, the Child Sexual Exploitation taskforce, government and support organisations to drive consistency and best practice across all forces in England and Wales.

The NPCC says building on the successes of programmes such as Operation Soteria, the new centre will work with academics to ensure an evidence-based approach, transforming the way policing looks at and responds to these crimes.

T/Chief Constable Maggie Blyth, NPCC lead for VAWG, said: “We welcome the official announcement and the financial support of government to implement a national policing centre to further protect victims and enhance our specialist capability to target perpetrators.

“We already have the foundations in place, we have a strong partnership across the College of Policing, NPCC and specialised programmes to drive better consistency in policing’s response to VAWG.

“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 listen and 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.”

She added: “As we set out last year, the threat and scale of VAWG has reached epidemic levels and it is estimated that at least one in every 12 women will be a victim of VAWG every year (two million victims) and one in 20 adults in England and Wales will be a perpetrator of VAWG every year (2.3 million perpetrators).

“The figures are probably even higher, so we must act now to stop male-perpetrated violence, and we are committed to transforming the policing of public protection, so we have a national standard to decrease harm and cost to society.

“The national centre forms part of our wider work with government on our shared commitment to reform policing and ensure forces have the people and resources they need to keep the public safe.”

Assistant Chief Constable Tom Harding, the College of Policing’s director of Operational Standards, said: “Every year, at least one in 12 women will be the victim of violence. This is a startling and unacceptable statistic and one which we, collectively, must commit ourselves to changing.

“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.

“That’s why we’ll place victims at the heart of the new centre and work across law enforcement, government and key stakeholders in both the public and voluntary sectors to boost the training we give to officers working in this area.

“The College of Policing will support forces to achieve the highest possible standards and, building on the success of the existing programmes, we will provide policing with the data, research and insight to improve the response to violence against women and girls.

“I’m grateful to the Government for the support and funding provided.”

The Home Office says the new intelligence-led national policing centre will put the experiences of victims of child sexual abuse, rape and sexual offences, domestic abuse and stalking at the heart of police investigations.

Launching in April, the centre will be based in Ryton and bring together around 100 officers and staff to prioritise tackling VAWG across England and Wales.

The Home Office said: “For too long, crimes disproportionately impacting women and girls, such as domestic abuse and grooming gangs, have not been met with the specialist response they require.

“Police efforts to tackle these crimes will now benefit from a national coordinating function – a specialist capability usually reserved for counter-terrorism and serious and organised crime – making sure victims get a consistent level of support regardless of where they are in the country.”

The centre will build on existing areas of work to train more police officers in the skills necessary to tackle VAWG and child sexual abuse, and deploy intelligence-led tactics used to target other serious offenders to pursue domestic abusers, rapists and stalkers.

It also aims to 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.

In addition, the centre will work with the National Crime Agency to ensure that all forces are supported to respond to online child sexual abuse

The Home Secretary 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.”

Ms Cooper added: “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.”