PRESS RELEASE : Top perpetrators of VAWG targeted under new national strategy [September 2024]
The press release issued by the Home Office on 21 September 2024.
Women and girls will be better protected under a new national strategy using advanced data analysis and algorithms to relentlessly target the most dangerous perpetrators of abuse.
This initiative is part of an ambitious, unprecedented mission to reduce such violence by 50% within the next decade. It will see police forces use new data-driven tools to focus on the small number of offenders responsible for the highest levels of harm.
Working closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), and the College of Policing, the Home Secretary will oversee the development of a new national approach to the use of these data-driven tools – which use computer programmes to bring together and analyse a range of police data to identify and pursue offenders involved in domestic abuse, sexual assault, harassment and stalking.
These tools, used alongside police officers’ expert judgment, will help law enforcement prioritise and pursue the most dangerous offenders, enabling a more effective allocation of police resources.
The government is committed to providing both local and national capabilities to tackle these devastating crimes and ensure law enforcement agencies pursue the most prolific offenders.
In addition, the technology will assist in building risk profiles for both perpetrators and victims, enabling law enforcement and partner agencies to implement robust management plans that disrupt offenders’ behaviour and enhance victim safety.
This new approach will standardise the use of predictive technologies across police forces, ensuring those who pose the greatest threat are identified and managed through the criminal justice system or community-based, multi-agency interventions.
The Home Office funded National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Taskforce will lead the charge in creating a framework for forces to follow. This framework will focus on identifying and managing the most dangerous offenders and drive forward a consistent national approach that allows those in operational policing to help meet the ambition to halve violence against women and girls in a decade.
