WIREDGOV

techUK is delighted to announce the results of its new working group looking at preventing and tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG). See which members made it onto the group…

Deputy Chief Constable Maggie Blyth leads the VAWG taskforce, established in 2021 to deliver a step change in the police response to tackling violence against women and girls.  The VAWG framework for delivery focuses on restoring public confidence, relentlessly pursuing perpetrators and creating safer spaces. This work is well underway and leading to tangible improvements that have been highlighted in the recent HMICFRS inspection on how policing tackles VAWG.

Alongside the framework published in December, a digital strategic intent has been developed, linked to the three pillars of the VAWG framework:

• Create a single online reporting route for violence against women and girls, which enables victims to report and to access the support they need, when they need it.
• Adopt, adapt and create products that develop a digitally competent, confident and capable workforce in order to relentlessly pursue perpetrators and protect victims.
• Make offender-hostile online environments, working with tech providers to design out VAWG in online spaces and for the tech industry to support upstander not bystander behaviour.

These three objectives are underpinned by building a dynamic intelligence picture on threats and opportunities, which can help prevent violence against women and girls, pursue perpetrators, and deliver better criminal justice outcomes for victims.  This will inform the Strategic Threat and Risk Assessment (STRA) on VAWG that will be published in March 2023.

To support this digital strategic intent, we hosted a roundtable to launch the partnership between Policing and the technology sector, exploring opportunities for digital technology to prevent and tackle VAWG.

Click here for the full press release