Officers Upskilled To Better Investigate Crimes Against Women And Girls

Saturday May 21, 2022

 

West Yorkshire Police have launched a series of training events to enhance victim support and the quality of investigations.

As part of the Force’s continued commitment to the Violence against Women and Girls strategy, which was launched in December last year, training was identified as a key priority.

The Honour Based Abuse charity, Karma Nirvana recently delivered training to 120 officers and staff across the force to raise awareness of honour-based abuse and forced marriage. 

This aimed to build confidence in identifying and challenging honour-based abuse and forced marriage, increase professional confidence, and improve and develop supportive and effective responses to victims. 

Last week, 11 officers from our Safeguarding and Domestic Abuse teams took part in a two-day training session held by The Suzy Lamplugh Trust.

The course centred around topics such as:

  • The impact of stalking on victims
  • Risk management and safety planning
  • Stalking behaviours
  • Digitally enabled stalking
  • Stalking protection orders

A further 12 officers from across West Yorkshire Police, will partake in this session and together will act as ‘Stalking Champions’ for the Force.

Later this month, Paladin National Stalking Advocacy Service will be delivering two one-day courses to a total of 60 frontline officers. This will look at the dynamics of stalking, reminder of the legalisation, impact of stalking on victims and safety considerations.

Detective Superintendent Lee Berry, Force lead on Violence Against Women and Girls, said:  “I am extremely pleased we have been able to give our officers the chance to take part in additional training to increase knowledge and understanding in line with the Force’s commitment to the Violence against Women and Girls strategy.

“The training courses have been a great addition to the ongoing work in Force and later this year, a three-day course will also be rolled out to investigative officers.

“Our commitment to the VAWG strategy is incredibly important, we want everyone across West Yorkshire to feel safe and be safe.

“By upskilling our officers, this will enable us to continue to prevent and detect all forms of abuse, support victims and bring offenders to justice.”

A spokesperson from Paladin NSAS, said: Paladin NSAS are very pleased to be working with West Yorkshire Police who are investing in the professional development of their teams to increase awareness of stalking.

“The impact of stalking is pervasive and life changing and in tragic cases can lead to fatality. It is imperative that victims receive a robust and timely response when these insidious behaviours are reported to the police to both enhance safety and hold perpetrators to account.

“Ensuring their force receive expert stalking awareness training from Paladin is a great step forward in making sure this happens.”

 

Image
News type
Area