For supermarkets to report abuse
brought on by Covid-19, by providing a “system of rescue” in the places victims are most likely to frequent during the crisis.
She told the Home Affairs committee: “Now, the equivalent of course is the supermarket, so you may be a very controlled person, but the likelihood is you are sent out to buy the food and also, of course, pharmacies.
“We urgently need to copy the French model… which is to have emergency provision available in supermarkets and pharmacies.”
The commissioner said a project called Counting Dead Women had recorded a total of 16 suspected domestic abuse killings in the past three weeks, around five a week – up from the usual average of two.
She mentioned how “Ask Angela”, an emergency code word to protect people from sexual assault that alerts bar staff to the need for help, could be adapted for use at shop tills.
She said: “You could have a very similar system, easily training workers in supermarkets, to just respond… if people are able to come in and talk about what’s happening, fine, but maybe that’s not so straightforward and you wouldn’t know what to say to a cashier, so an option to have a code word, so that you say ‘ask Vera’, and the person says ‘that means this to me’.”
She said the police were looking out for signs of abuse on patrols, and urged the public to sound the alarm if things do not seem right, similar to how they are encouraged to report suspected terrorist issues.
Dame Vera said: “I hope we can also get the government really to commit to introducing a system of rescue at the places, the sole places, that people who are in difficulties can go to now.”