Local Police and Crime Commissioner, Donna Jones, says she remains resolute in doing all she can to eradicate violence against women and girls across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight as countries around the world mark World Ribbon Day. The day of action today (Friday) is a global movement to educate, raise awareness and campaign to change the cultures and attitudes that lead to violence against women and girls (VAWG). This year’s theme is #ChangeTheStory with individuals and organisations being urged to #ChangeTheStory for women and girls and put an end to gender-based violence. PCC Donna Jones has said:
“White Ribbon’s mission is to prevent violence against women and girls by addressing its root causes, and by coming together to change long established and harmful attitudes that often result in men’s violence against women and girls. “Every corner of our society needs to take responsibility for driving a seismic shift in attitudes towards preventing abusing and violent behaviour against women and girls, with leaders and educators stepping up to take a pivotal role that produces real change for the long term.”
This summer, the PCC called for all licensing authorities in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight to introduce mandatory CCTV in taxis and private hire vehicles. It followed the conviction of a taxi driver in Southampton in May 2023 who was jailed for sexually assaulting a woman. The CCTV evidence in the taxi led to the conviction and prevented the victim from having to go through a trial due to the conclusive evidence. Southampton and Portsmouth already require CCTV to be fitted, and Gosport and Fareham Borough Councils agreed to introduce the measure following the Police Commissioner’s calls. The Police Commissioner also launched a VAWG Task Group 2 years ago comprising of police, the CPS, the probation service, local authorities, judges, commissioned VAWG providers, and health authorities from across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight to tackle violence against women and girls in the 2 counties. The breadth of agencies involved meant it was 1 of the first of its kind in the country, and since its inception the Group has worked on understanding what VAWG looks like across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, building confidence with women and girls to increase reporting, speeding up the legal process to ensure swifter justice for victims, and improving the response to managing offenders. Over the last 12 months, the following projects and initiatives for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight have been achieved or announced by the PCC:
- The investment of more than £350K to tackle the behaviour of serial and repeat domestic abuse (DA) perpetrators via Project Foundation.
- A VAWG problem profile was formed through surveys, focus groups and interviews which was presented at a high-profile VAWG event.
- The creation of a dashboard to provide an overview of services to reduce offending as part of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary’s response to DA perpetrators.
- A new Multi-Agency Stalking Partnership (MASP) designed to reduce the risk of reoffending amongst stalkers following a successful bid to the Home Office of more than a million pounds in funding.
- A new Stalking Advocacy and Support Service (SASS) providing independent and specialist support to stalking victims.
- Provided funding for Project CARA (Cautioning and Relationship Abuse) with awareness raising workshops for domestic abuse offenders.
- Supporting victims of sexual violence with the start of a multi-million pound contract for the new combined Frankie Worker Service and all-age Sexual Crime Therapeutic Service.
- New contracts to further protect victims of sexual violence with Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA) services.
- Securing over £2.5M of uplift funding from the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) for victims of domestic abuse and sexual abuse in 2023/24.
In early 2023, violence against women and girls was considered a national threat and was added to the Strategic Policing Requirement (SPR) by the Home Secretary, recognising the risk it presents to public safety and confidence. The SPR sets clear expectations on police to tackle VAWG and how PCCs and Chief Constables must focus resources and work with others effectively to bring about collaborative change.
Another lecture from her majesty, Commissioner Jones, crime is increasing .. so your sticking plaster ideas are still not making any difference.. please just resign ..
IF people only knew the true numbers of non british who are assaulting women, then they would be very shocked.
So to start with stop unchecked arrivals landing and send them back to wherever the dna swab shows they belong.
Then eventually we could free up space in our prisons for all offenders.
Maybe women need to start taking testosterone to biggen their muscles up?
And what is she doing to eradicate violence against men? Totally sexist misandrist. It’s time to end the myth that only men are abusers.
Just women? .
It always about women,never men.
1 in 3 women experience some form of domestic abuse. 1 in 4 men experience it. It’s not just women are victims. Plus, men are less likely to report abuse. Also, men are more likely to be charged or imprisoned than women for the same crime.
25 years ago I worked with a man who had a violent partner. They had children, and he knew that if he walked out of the house she would lose her temper on their children. So to protect the children he allowed his wife to bluntly use him as a punch bag. He could not see any other alternative.
25 years later, I can’t see that anything has changed. Parents split up, and the children will go to the woman – regardless of what has happened.
i knew of one guy, who regularly had bite marks on his arms, which he covered up and occasional bruising from his wife. He hid this abuse, but we knew. He decided to report it one day, however, was faced with the accusation that his wife must have been acting in self defence, so he just gave up reporting it, as he wasn’t taken seriously.
The guy waited patiently until she was out, collected his things and just walked out on her, left his job, left the town, emptied his bank account and moved to another part of the UK and none of us have heard from him since.
he was despondent of not being believed and scared of retaliating, as he would then be accused of being a wife beater.
since he left, she is a complete mess and destitute.