.png)
19 hours ago
2
A senior English police officer at the vanguard of a new national approach to catching rapists has put domestic abusers in her sights.
The chief constable of Avon and Somerset police, Sarah Crew, said domestic abusers in her area should know “we’re coming for you” after launching a drive to target the most persistent offenders and overhaul how the force deals with domestic abuse.
It comes after the Guardian’s Killed women count project recorded the deaths of at least 80 women where a man has been charged with murder in 2024, and follows the introduction of new legal tools to protect victims and a pledge from Jess Phillips, the violence against women and girls minister, that the government would tackle the “scourge of femicide” in the UK.
Crew told the Guardian that from this month a team of academics would critically interrogate how Avon and Somerset dealt with domestic abuse before its processes were changed.
“People are losing their lives, perpetrators are moving from one victim to another, and we’re not intervening,” she said. “If people are losing their lives and they are known to the system, I think we’ve got to look at that and say that’s a failure.”
Project Bright Light will revolutionise how police in Avon and Somerset deal with the crime, said Crew. “We’re almost treating each case on its own, and what I want is for us to be looking at the whole story, focusing on perpetrators, intervening early, managing and disrupting and, if they’re dangerous, convicting them.”
Violence against women and girls has been under the spotlight this week after the government rejected calls from the billionaire X owner, Elon Musk, and rightwing politicians for a national inquiry into grooming gangs, stating its priority is acting on the recommendations of the 2022 report on child sexual abuse led by Prof Alexis Jay.
Police chiefs have described violence against women and girls as a “national emergency”, with figures from the ONS revealing that one in four women have experienced domestic abuse since the age of 16. According to the Femicide Census, a woman has been killed by a man, on average, once every three days over a 10-year period, with no tangible decline since 2009.
Crew said she wanted to send a message to victims of domestic abuse that they would be supported, and to perpetrators that “we’re coming for you.” “There is a prevent and disrupt element to this, but I am also interested in perpetrator programmes and early intervention,” said Crew.
“The message to perpetrators is more subtle: we and others are here to help you, but if you’re not going to be helped, then we’re going to have to do something to keep the public safe and protect others from you.”
Crew is seen as an outspoken figure in policing after declaring Avon and Somerset police was institutionally racist in 2023 and letting academics and television cameras expose the failings of how her force was dealing with rape.
In Operation Bluestone, piloted in 2021, academics examined why so few of the force’s rape investigations led to prosecutions and introduced an “Al Capone” approach to catching rapists. The pilot became the basis for a new national operating model across all police forces in England and Wales.
after newsletter promotion
The police chief insists that the process, which she admits was exposing and difficult for some staff, has produced results. In 2021, the force made 62 rape charges; this year that figure is 231. More people now report rape per 100,000 of the population in the area than anywhere else in the country because of increased confidence, she said. “There’s a real change in the investigative mindset, in the culture of people in the Bluestone team,” she said.
Tackling domestic abuse will be a greater challenge. Unlike rape – which is often investigated immediately by a senior detective – initial reports of domestic abuse are often dealt with by less experienced officers. It is an opportunity, she insisted. “Domestic abuse is 20% of our crime and it affects a much broader base of police officers. If you change mindset, culture and investigative capability to improve how you deal with domestic abuse, you improve policing, full stop.”
The Avon and Somerset police and crime commissioner, Clare Moody – whose office is funding Project Bright Light – said the money would come from reserve funding. “This is something that is so important, so I am willing to spend this reserve. The difference it will make to the huge numbers of women who experience domestic abuse is massive,” she said.
Crew said she was relaxed at the prospect of inviting further criticism about the force. “There will be a time when I’m not a police officer any more, and I want to look back and think I did the right thing for the public and my colleagues,” she said.
