Taskforce extension will continue PCC’s work to protect women and girls

A TASKFORCE battling drink spiking, sexual assault and domestic abuse could be continued into a second year.

Hampshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Donna Jones, has spent her first 14 months in the role with a big focus on violence against women and girls.

Last October, Mrs Jones established a violence against women and girls taskforce, to highlight problematic locations – notably high streets and hospitality

venues – and make it easier for victims to come forward. The taskforce was meant to last 12 months, but the commissioner is now considering keeping it around for the foreseeable future.

“Sadly, we know violence against women and girls starts in their teenage years, and it continues through adulthood,” she said.

“As soon as they enter relationships or reach legal drinking age, they become more vulnerable to it.

“We have to tackle drink spiking, harassment and sexual touching in

bars, pubs and clubs, continued problems with domestic abuse and much more. We’re also encouraging women to come forward and report what’s happened to them – just because you have no idea who touched, groped or spiked you, we still want to know about it to understand where these things are happening and how often.”

The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner was recently awarded £733,551.19 from the Home Office’s safer streets fund.

This money will be spent on programmes such as the creation of

dedicated safe spaces and education around violence prevention. Through the Safe Space Network, 50 safe spaces will be created across the county, providing a network of areas women can walk to when they feel unsafe. This builds upon and extends existing work to co-ordinate safe spaces in both Portsmouth and on the Isle of Wight.

Mrs Jones added: “We are spending the money on targeted hardening of public spaces, with more CCTV and better street

lighting, training up door staff at hospitality venues and pushing the Safer Streets app – which allows women to go online and report alleyways, pubs, car parks and so on where they feel unsafe.

“We also have the Street Pastors who are around from when pubs start closing at 11pm to 2am or 3am when the clubs shut, particularly where you have a high volume of young women such as Portsmouth, Winchester and Southampton.

“There is a whole load of things we are doing to protect women and girls.”