Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG)
On this page:
- VAWG Impact Report
- Our new pledge
- The next three years
- Police response to stalking – our action plan
- Find out more
VAWG Impact Report
WMP has issued a new pledge to protect women and girls from violence in the home, online and in public spaces.
The term ‘violence against women and girls’ (VAWG) includes often devastating and complex crimes such as female homicide, rape, sexual abuse, domestic abuse, female genital mutilation, and coercive and controlling behaviour.
In 2021, WMP published its first action plan to tackle VAWG, which made VAWG a strategic priority and ensured victims are at the heart of everything we do.
We have made some progress, including setting up internal stalking triage clinics to improve our understanding or threat and risk that sits within stalking and harassment offences and how to effectively use a Stalking Protection Order (SPO).
We have worked with partners to create more safer public spaces for women and we have also implemented of Op Soteria, to transform the way we investigate rape and other sexual offences
In 2023 we also changed how we respond to reports of domestic abuse.
We introduced the domestic abuse desk which aims to provide the highest quality of service to victims, using officers who only deal with Domestic Abuse; and who therefore have a specialism in the field, supported by regular continuous professional development.
Birmingham and Solihull Women’s Aid are also embedded within the team, working alongside the staff at Bournville Lane Police Station on certain days.
We have also invested in sexual harassment training in the workplace for our officers and staff.
You can read about the improvements we have made over the last three years in our VAWG Impact Report.
Our new pledge
However, we are aware that there is much more to do and this week we are sharing our refreshed commitment to protect woman and girls and combat the violence they suffer, largely at the hands of predatory and abusive men.
Our new pledge concentrates on the 11 strands of VAWG we are committed to tackling :
- Domestic Abuse
- Rape and Serious Sexual Offences (RASSO)
- Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
- Forced Marriage (FM)
- So-called Honour-Based Abuse (HBA)
- Stalking & harassment
- Sexual harassment
- Child sexual exploitation (CSE)
- Child sexual abuse (CSA)
- Sex work & prostitution
- Modern slavery & human trafficking
The next three years
During the next three years, West Midlands Police will:
- Continue to elevate VAWG as a priority and Prepare West Midlands Police to tackle VAWG, both now and in the future;
- Work with partners to ensure we Protect women and girls at work, at home, in public spaces, and online;
- Pursue perpetrators, utilising both criminal and civil opportunities;
- Seek every opportunity to Prevent VAWG with a focus on reducing repeat victimisation and offending.
You can read our refreshed commitment in our VAWG strategy.
Detective Superintendent Michelle Davies, who leads on VAWG for the force said:
“Making the West Midlands a safer place for women and girls is our priority, whether it is by disrupting predatory behaviour during the night time economy and implementing safer walking routes; supporting victims of domestic abuse and changing perpetrator behaviour; or by working to eliminate sexism and misogyny from the work place.”
Police response to stalking – our action plan
This action plan follows after the submission by the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, on behalf of the National Stalking Consortium, of a super-complaint concerning the police response to stalking.
Specifically, in response to the recommendations for Chief Constables, forces are required by 22 November 2024, to publish on their website an action plan which explains what their force will do locally to respond to each of the recommendations made.
We have updated this action plan and responded accordingly as detailed in this November 2024 review – we will update this in March 2025.