Women ‘buddy up’ with officers on patrol to share concerns about safety

The ‘Walk and Talk’ initiative being trialled in South London in response to “heightened concerns” from women following the murder of Sarah Everard in March.

Speaking at the National Federation of Women’s Institutes (WI) annual meeting on Tuesday (June 8), MPS Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick said the murder “sent shockwaves” through communities and across her workforce.

“What happened then was a catalyst for wider societal concern about the safety of women and girls,” said Dame Cressida.

“It brought into sharp focus that women and girls do not feel as safe as we want them to.

“It also brought into sharp focus our resolve, and determination to work even harder with our partners across the criminal justice system to protect women and bring offenders properly to justice.”

The new scheme will see 25 female neighbourhood officers who know the area really well “buddying up” with women members of the public on street patrols.

Those taking part will be able to discuss with officers any locations in which they feel vulnerable and patrols will take place at times when there are fewer people, less traffic and light so officers can get a real sense of what their worries are.

Sergeant Becky Perkins, who leads the initiative, said she hoped that by walking with the women on their usual routes and hearing from them first-hand what their concerns are “we will be able to act and build trust”.

“The initiative has been developed by officers in that area and is part of proactive response to concerns from women. These concerns have become more heightened latterly,” Dame Cressida told the WI.

“It provides an opportunity for the officers to speak to female members of the community about their experiences, what they think could be improved and concerns and reflections. We are really eager to learn from the public about what we/they/our partners can do to improve the safety of our areas for women.”

Dame Cressida also told the WI that far too many women still suffer abuse and harm in the place they should feel safest – at home.

“Statistically women and girls – it may not feel like this – are more at risk in the home than in public spaces from violence,” she said.

“For too many, their abuser is not just known to them, it is their partner.”

Dame Cressida said on average, the MPS receives around 350 calls a day relating to domestic abuse.

It records some 260 crimes a day of which about a quarter result in injury.

“More than 6,000 a year involve serious injury and, sadly every year some victims of domestic abuse are killed,” said Dame Cressida.

“More than 10,000 of the suspects for domestic abuse incidents were likely repeat offenders and we know that many will act violently on the streets as well.”

She added: “Most tragically, children frequently witness such violence and we know that is likely to be highly traumatic and likely to affect their health and life chances in many ways. For some there is inexplicitly a link with the violence they witness to that they will go on to perpetrate when they are older.

To make sure that those children get the support they need, as of this week the MPS is sharing via @MetPoliceUK and other social media platforms a number of creative short graphics to highlight the hidden trauma experienced by children caught up in a difficult home life.

Dame Cressida said: “Hopefully this will ask all of us to think, and consider if we know a child affected like this by domestic abuse, and if so what we can do about it.

“These children may be those of neighbours, family members. And, on some sad occasions, they will need a big part of the community’s voice to help them.

“We are making progress in increasing our ability to tackle this and have better tools at our disposal to help those who seek assistance, and to help people may feel trapped or those are too scared to even ask for help.

“Whether the abuse is physical, financial, emotional, controlling or coercive, our dedicated officers are there to help protect victims and to prove offences.”

Concluding her speech, Dame Cressida said she hoped policing and the WI “can work even closer in the future”, adding: “The issues I have been talking about today are societal issues. We all need to work together to create a safer and more respectful society.”