UK Government Declares Violence Against Women a National Emergency with New Policing Plans
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has declared violence against women and girls a national emergency in England and Wales and outlined a comprehensive plan to address these issues. The plan aims to roll out specialist rape and sexual offence investigation teams to all police forces in the region by 2029, with the ultimate goal of halving violence within the next decade.
Key components of the strategy include funding for undercover online units, a nationwide roll-out of domestic abuse protection orders, and ensuring that every police force has dedicated officers trained to understand both abusers and victims by 2029. Domestic abuse protection orders will prohibit contact, home visits, and harmful online content, with breaches constituting criminal offences. Early pilots of these orders have already resulted in positive arrests for breaches.
The Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, supports this approach, noting that it mirrors the V100 data-driven strategy previously used by the Metropolitan Police to target high-risk individuals. This approach is planned to be adopted by other forces as well.
The government is investing nearly £2 million to establish undercover online units, and there is consideration to extend Clare’s Law to cover stalking, sexual assault, and harassment.
This announcement follows a recent report highlighting that more than a quarter of police forces had not implemented basic policies for investigating sexual offences, while data on sexually motivated crimes remains limited, prompting urgent calls for action.
Political reactions to the plan have been mixed. The Labour Party had previously pledged action on this issue in their manifesto. However, Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp criticized the plan as "too little, too late," citing delays and insufficient funding. Additionally, the chairs of three Commons select committees expressed concerns about repeated delays to effective action.
