PCC working with leading organisation on study of violence against women and girls

Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Humberside Jonathan Evison has commissioned a study into the local reality of violence and abuse against women and girls. For some time, the Office of the PCC has been looking at this specific issue and employs a dedicated manager, Marie Morgan, and a data analyst who are building a local picture of serious violence including domestic abuse with a specific focus on male violence against women and girls.

The PCC’s office has recently commissioned leading research and training organisation VictimFocus, led by Dr Jessica Taylor, who have extensive experience of working with victims and survivors to run a survey of women and girls aged 16+ in the Humber area to help us build a real picture of what violence against women and girls looks like in our region and assist us in understanding what we can do to work collectively to address the issue.        

The anonymous survey will ask for women’s experiences of all forms of violence since birth and we would like as many women and girls aged 16 and over as possible to take part in the study to ensure their voices are heard.

Office of the PCC Chief Executive Rachel Cook said: “We are living in changing times. The reality of violence against women and girls is felt all around us, even more so over the past few weeks with heightened media coverage of the dreadful loss of lives we have seen.

“Our office has been looking at this specific issue for some time now and the Police and Crime Commissioner has made it a priority in his Police and Crime Plan to be published next week. We have invested in resources to look at long term solutions to address specifically domestic abuse but this agenda goes way beyond violence in the home. This survey is an opportunity for us to better understand the experiences of women and girls in our area so that we can make informed decisions about how we can help to prevent male violence and better protect women and girls. 

“We shall use the information women provide in order to gain a better understanding of the root causes of violence and abuse and how we can work better together to prevent it. We would like to hear from all women in Hull, East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire, particularly from older women and those who are marginalised by faith or ethnicity.”

Women and girls aged 16+ can click here to take the survey  

For anyone who is affected by violence, details of support services can be found at www.youarenotalone.online  

Visit www.victimfocus.org.uk for more information on VictimFocus