The prevalence of violence against women and girls (VAWG) across society is shocking.
Nearly 1 in 12 women across England and Wales will be a victim each year.
These figures are stark, and for all of us in policing, it is vitally important that we do all we can to fight back against the perpetrators of this violence and help women and girls feel safe.
Here in London, we have already started to transform our response to protecting women and girls.
We have put an additional 565 officers into public protection roles, and we are training more than 20,000 frontline officers to improve our initial response to domestic abuse and stalking.
So far we have secured sentences totalling over 400 years for the worst perpetrators of VAWG.
But the sheer scale of the problem needs more radical thinking. We launched our V100 programme to target the most serious offenders – drawing on how we disrupt drugs gangs and dismantle terrorists operations – to take the most dangerous men off the streets.
What is V100?
Each month, the Met identify and target the 100 most dangerous men and women who pose a risk to women and girls, using counter terrorism and organised crime tactics.
Metro‘s Noora Mykkanen attended a V100 police briefing and you can read more about the worst offenders here.
It is a three pronged approach: We are catching more of the most dangerous offenders, putting more protections in place for victim-survivors and, as a result of linking these offenders to other crimes, achieving longer sentences.
Each month, we analyse crime reports to identify the 100 men whom we suspect pose the biggest risk to women and children. Once identified, we use every option available to get them behind bars and stop their offending.
This Is Not Right
On November 25, 2024 Metro launched This Is Not Right, a year-long campaign to address the relentless epidemic of violence against women.
With the help of our partners at Women's Aid, This Is Not Right aims to shine a light on the sheer scale of this national emergency.
You can find more articles here, and if you want to share your story with us, you can send us an email at vaw@metro.co.uk.
Read more:
But criminal prosecutions are not our only answer. We use the full range of our powers to relentlessly target the V100 suspects, prevent immediate harm and protect victims.
So far, we have obtained court orders in 69 V100 cases, including Domestic Violence Prevention Orders, Stalking Protection Orders and Protection from Harassment Orders.
Understanding court orders
- A Domestic Violence Prevention Order (DVPO) can prevent the perpetrator from having contact with the victim-survivor for up to 28, and from returning to a residence
- A Stalking Protection Order protects victim-survivors by placing requirements or restrictions on the perpetrator. Like a DVPO, this could include staying away from a certain person or area. It could also mean the perpetrator has to hand over their devices, or attend a drugs and alcohol programme. The order lasts for at least two years.
- A Protection from Harassment Order is designed to protect an individual by placing restrictions on the perpetrator, including ceasing contact with the victim-survivor.
These tactics impose strict conditions on perpetrators, including stopping them from targeting women or restricting their activities online.
This includes two life terms – one for the kidnap, false imprisonment and sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl, and another for raping a woman at knifepoint in a park and attempting to rape another woman after following her home.
Our experience has also shown us that many of these dangerous men are adept at hiding their violent offending, using coercive and controlling behaviour to stop victims from coming forward.
As a result, a significant part of our V100 strategy is to use every avenue available to get these predatory men behind bars.
We have achieved successful prosecutions for dealing drugs, carrying weapons, robbery and repeat shoplifting, ‘throwing the book’ at the V100 to get them off the streets and away from victims.
Through the use of data and technology, combined with more, better trained officers, we believe it is possible to turn the tide.
An early analysis of our V100 approach has shown that already we have more than doubled the risk of arrest for the most harmful suspects of violence against women, when compared to a similar list before our programme began.
To women reading this, I want you to know that we are listening to you.
We have increased patrols in areas where you told us you felt most vulnerable, and launched targeted operations to tackle harassment and violence in public spaces.
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New teams are relentlessly targeting those offenders who pose the greatest threat, and we’re using cutting-edge technology to identify and intervene before they strike again.
I am routinely impressed by the work of the officers and staff of the Met. They do all they can to increase the safety of women both at home and on our streets, day or night.
They are exceptionally committed to targeting the most dangerous predators and actively preventing crime against women and girls.
Their work with V100 demonstrated the relentless pursuit of our mission for every woman and girl to feel safe and protected.
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jess.austin@metro.co.uk.
Share your views in the comments below.
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