On 23 July 2024 the College of Policing and National Police Chiefs’ Council published the first National Policing Statement 2024 about Violence Against Women and Girls.
WMWA’s CEO Sue Coleman shares her thoughts on its findings:
“The very first sentence in this significant report describes violence against women and girls (VAWG) – including domestic abuse – as having reached ‘epidemic levels’ in the UK. It refers to the data that informed the Statement as ‘staggering’. It goes on to say:
‘…in February 2023, the Home Office classified VAWG for the first time as a national threat to public safety ….This means that police forces prioritise their response to VAWG as they do terrorism and serious and organised crime’.
Let that sink in.
This is not news to those of us at West Mercia Women’s Aid and in sister organisations that work to support women and children whose lives are broken by their experience of domestic abuse. We have been raising the enormity of this issue for a very long time. But seeing the National Police Chiefs’ Council make this statement – based on their own data – gives us hope that the message may now start to register. But like so many official reports – there is a danger that few will know about it and even fewer will read it.
West Mercia Women’s Aid will do all it can to ensure that this report – and the truth that it conveys – is not forgotten as the daily news moves on to other issues. The report states that ‘At least 1 in every 12 women will be victims of VAWG per year (2 million victims) and we expect the exact number to be higher’. One in twelve. We already know that one in four women will experience domestic abuse in their lifetime; that figure hasn’t changed in literally decades. We now have another number to get our heads around.
It is time we heard their voices and challenged that reality. From August 2024 and in every one of our monthly newsletters, West Mercia Women’s Aid will have a ‘One in Twelve’ feature, to highlight this dreadful prediction and garner support for the work to bring an end to domestic abuse.“
National Policing Statement July 2024