Mahmood Declares Violence Against Women a National Emergency
The UK calls violence against women a national emergency. New police teams, tougher laws, and reforms aim to fix a failing criminal justice system.
The Home Secretary has said that violence against women and girls is a "national emergency," and has announced plans to create specialist teams in every police force in England and Wales to investigate rape and sexual offences by 2029.
This is part of a long-delayed plan aimed at halving violence against women and girls within a decade.
The strategy – which will include funding for undercover units operating online and enforcing domestic violence protection orders – will be published on Thursday after being postponed three times this year.
Shabana Mahmood said that during her time in government she had come to the "depressing conclusion" that "the criminal justice system is failing women".
Speaking on the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, she said the way police forces investigate cases is "far too much of a postcode lottery".
The government says the new teams will have officers with specialist investigative skills to work on rape and sexual offence cases.
It said staff would be given the right training to understand the mindset of abusers and victims.
More than 50% of police forces already have these teams, but the government says that by 2029 every force will have dedicated officers.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley welcomed the move, saying the government would be replicating strategies used by the Met in its existing V100 programme.
This programme uses data to identify and target men who pose the greatest risk to women.
Sir Mark said the Met "uses the same relentless determination to tackle violence against women and girls that we use to fight terrorism," adding: "We have built a completely new system focused on pursuing and prosecuting violent men and I am pleased the government is now asking all forces to follow the same principle." The introduction of domestic abuse protection orders has also been announced, which were trialled in England and Wales last year.
They can prevent individuals from contacting victims, going to their homes or posting harmful material online, and can also be used in cases involving coercive or controlling behaviour. Breaching an order is a criminal offence.
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Mahmood said that early evidence from the pilots on the effectiveness of the orders was "very, positive," with a significant number of people arrested for breaching the orders. She said: "What these orders do that's so different is they take the onus off the woman, the victim, to pursue her abuser through different parts of the legal system to enforce the order, and they put that responsibility back onto the police."
Around £2m will be invested in specialist undercover units of police officers working online – to target those harassing women and girls on the internet.
The government is also considering including offences such as stalking, sexual assault and harassment under Clare's Law.
The law was created in memory of Clare Wood, who was murdered in 2009 by her ex-boyfriend, who had a history of violent behaviour.
It currently allows people to ask the police for information about their partner's, or former partner's, history of domestic violence.
A report published earlier this month found that more than a quarter of police forces in England and Wales had not implemented basic policies for investigating sexual offences.
It said that sexually motivated crimes against women in public spaces remain widespread, criticised the limited nature of the data on these crimes, and called for urgent action to prevent perpetrators from committing offences.
The publication of the government's strategy has been significantly delayed. It was initially expected to be announced in the spring. In last year's general election manifesto, the Labour Party pledged to "use every tool at the government's disposal to target perpetrators and address the root causes of abuse and violence."
On Tuesday, the chairs of three Commons select committees expressed their concern about repeated delays in the publication of the plans.
It is understood that the strategy will be built around three objectives: preventing the radicalization of young men, deterring abusers, and supporting victims.
Conservative Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp described the announcement as "too little, too late."
Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg, he said it was "disappointing" that it had taken the government a year and a half to produce its strategy and that the funding provided was a "very small amount."
Asked why both the previous Conservative government, of which he was a member, and the current Labour government have struggled to tackle the problem, he said that both parties had taken the issue "seriously," but added that the criminal justice system is "quite slow and bureaucratic."
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