A Safer Future for Women and Girls: Prevention and early interventions

Prevention and early intervention is a central pillar of the UK’s response to tackling VAWG through a whole-system approach with partners across education, the CJS, government and other community partners⁶. This approach combines targeted policing with measures to address emerging risks, including the misuse of everyday technology. Recent years have seen growing emphasis on proactive safeguarding and innovative tools to detect and deter abuse at the earliest stage.

Recognition of technology challenge and legislative changes

2015-2020

Early Recognition of Tech-Facilitated Abuse

HMICFRS’s 2014–15 domestic abuse inspection⁷ exposed systemic failings, catalysing modernisation of police responses to coercive control and digital harm. By 2020, forces increasingly treated smartphone, social media and cloud data as core evidence. In 2023, the NPCC VAWG Strategic Threat Assessment⁸ recognised a new slew of advancements in technology that were enabling VAWG, including the Internet of Things, the widespread adoption of privacy enhancing technologies and the impact of the “manosphere” on beliefs and attitudes of young men and boys.

2023

Online Misogyny Monitoring

Under the Online Safety Act, Ofcom issued guidance expecting platforms to assess risks to women and girls, design safer systems, and rapidly detect and remove misogynistic abuse and intimate image harms^9,10. This created clearer accountability and set higher standards for proactive monitoring and enforcement across services in the UK.

2023

Smart Device Abuse Monitoring

A UK parliamentary inquiry revealed how smart home devices such as speakers, thermostats, and CCTV are exploited to monitor and harass victims. The findings raised national awareness of the threat that connected devices pose and led to policy recommendations aimed at preventing technology-facilitated abuse. Examples included upskilling law enforcement to improve the CJS response and increasing specialist services to tackle VAWG¹¹.

2023 - 2025

The Online Safety Act

A new set of laws that protects children and adults online, with a new range of duties for search engines and social media providers which increases their responsibility for the safety of users on their platform¹². In November 2025, OFCOM issued guidance for social media and service providers to adhere to the new legislation.  This includes creating new systems and processes to remove illegal content such as harassment, stalking, controlling or coercive behaviour, extreme pornography, and intimate image abuse when it is flagged it to them¹³.

Research and Innovation

2019

Project Vigilant

Thames Valley

Following an increase in sexual attacks, Thames Valley Police launched Project Vigilant to make nightlife safer through trust-building and the relentless pursuit of perpetrators. Behavioural Investigative Advisors developed a framework to understand and tackle this threat, with officers given observation training in how to spot predatory behaviour, allowing early intervention. Once identified, uniformed officers move in to disrupt the activity and obtain details through a stop and account. Recognised and cited in the Angiolini report as an effective measure against sexually motivated crimes, it has since been adopted by around 20 UK police forces¹⁴.

2021

Operation Minerva

Essex   

Essex Police and Nottingham Trent University developed a spatial mapping tool to identify VAWG hotspots and underlying drivers using crime and perception data¹⁵. The “Minerva Zones” approach challenges assumptions about risk areas and informs targeted, multi-agency interventions. Adopted by Safer Essex, it set a blueprint for data-driven policing to improve public safety across England and Wales.

2023

Operation Chrysalis

Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire

The Chrysalis Centre is a collaborative venture jointly set up by Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire Police & Crime Commissioners, local authorities and the NHS as a proactive approach to changing the behaviour of those causing harm in a domestic context¹⁶. This prevention initiative provides clinical, behavioural and support interventions which prevent domestic abuse. 156 referrals have been made in a 10-month period, and the efficacy of this intervention is currently being evaluated by the Home Office and academic partners.

2024

It Does Matter Campaign

Thames Valley Police

There is a strong evidence base that shows those who commit non-contact offences such as exposure and voyeurism, can escalate to commit violent offences¹⁷. Thames Valley Police created a campaign to increase the reporting this type of crime in collaboration with Lisa Squire, the mother of Libby Squire, who was tragically raped and murdered by an offender with a history of non-contact sexual offending.

The campaign was designed using the COM-B behavioural change model for understanding and influencing behaviour change to encourage an increase in reporting of non-contact sexual offences¹⁸. It included extensive news coverage, an educational package available to schools nationwide and universities freshers’ events¹⁹.

2025

Identifying red flag behaviours for police officer sexual and other misconduct

Canterbury - in progress

Canterbury Christ Church University’s multi-force study analyses anonymous internal misconduct data, officer characteristics and other relevant information to identify ‘red flag’ patterns for sexual misconduct²⁰. The aims are earlier detection, intervention and strengthening forces’ ability to address offender behaviour before harm escalates.