The National Police Chiefs’ Council has declared violence against women a national emergency in England and Wales. The first national police analysis of the scale of the problem estimated 2 million women to be victims of offences including stalking, harassment, sexual assault and domestic abuse.
But statistics can’t fully capture the magnitude of this violence. Many women and girls do not report sexual violence, in part because they do not have trust or confidence in the police. A recent report by the police inspectorate found that police are “struggling to get the basics right” when it comes to violence against women.
