In the wake of the sentencing of Wayne Couzens, who used his powers as a serving officer in the Metropolitan police to kidnap, rape and murder Sarah Everard, the government and its agencies are facing hard questions about what is being done to tackle men’s violence against women.
What are the promised reforms and will they work?
Street lighting, undercover officers in bars and CCTV – safer, or a sticking plaster?
Both the police and government have been accused of putting the onus on women to keep themselves safe and offering a “sticking plaster” for an intractable society-wide problem. There was outrage on Friday at advice published on the Metropolitan police’s website that fearful women could flag down a bus, while a pilot to put plainclothes police officers in bars to protect women announced was derided by campaigners as “bizarre” and “performative”.
The government has also announced a £25m Safer Streets Fund for measures such as better street lighting and CCTV, and last month launched StreetSafe, to allow people to report areas where they feel unsafe. Andrea Simon, director of the End Violence Against Women coalition, said this “felt like the wrong response in the wrong tone” adding that it “completely ignored all the structural issues around men’s violence towards women”.
Hearts and minds
The government has promised a national communications campaign to tackle violence against women and girls, but details remain vague. Simon called for it to “be done big with a well-funded multi-year” approach.
Boots on the ground
On Thursday the Met said 650 new officers would be deployed into busy public places, “including those where women and girls often lack confidence that they are safe”. It also pledged to publish a new strategy for tackling violence against women and girls – but critics have asked why should a strategy is not already in place.
The national police lead for rape, Sarah Crew, previously told the Guardian many specialist teams across England and Wales had disbanded during austerity and called for them to be reinstated.
Reviews and strategies
In June the government published its long-awaited Rape Review, along with an apology, and promised £3.2m for a police pilot focusing investigations on suspects rather than complainants’ credibility, a return to pre-2016 prosecution levels after years of record decline, bi-annual “scorecards” measuring key indicators. Victims were promised they would no longer be subject to a “digital strip searches”, get better communication and access to therapy.
Campaigners welcomed the apology, but said the measures lacked urgency and were underfunded.
In its Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy unveiled in July, the government promised to consider criminalising public street harassment and banning the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in cases of sexual harassment and abuse in higher education. It announced a new national police chief with overall responsibility for VAWG and promised a review into offender management. Jess Phillips, the shadow minister for domestic violence, said there was much to welcome in the strategy, but added: “Saying it on a document doesn’t make it so.”
Misogyny as a hate crime
MP Stella Creasy has spearheaded efforts to have misogyny dealt with as a hate crime. In March, following the news of Everard’s murder, the government said it would require police forces to collect data on crimes apparently motivated by hostility towards women on an “experimental basis” from this autumn, seen as a step towards the criminalisation of misogyny. Some campaigners have expressed doubts about the push, expressing concerns it could be unenforceable; others said it brought useful scrutiny.
