Influencers radicalising boys in ‘terrifying’ way, say police

The wide-ranging report by the NPCC and College of Policing published on Tuesday said violence against women and girls had reached “epidemic” levels.

It identified several key threats facing victims including sexual violence, domestic abuse, stalking and child sexual abuse.

It found there had been a 37% increase in the number of violent crimes against women and girls between 2018 and 2023.

Police say more than a million such crimes were recorded in England and Wales last year alone, accounting for 20% of all crimes recorded by the police.

Some of the rise has been driven by an increase in reporting and more awareness of those crimes.

But police chiefs say domestic abuse is growing and remains one of the biggest demands on officers.

And it estimated that one in 20 adults – or 2.3 million people – were perpetrators of such violence every year.

The NPCC says it creating a central hub which would offer police forces help by providing specialist knowledge and training.

The government says it welcomes the hub and aims to halve violence against women and girls over the next decade.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has previously made clear that violence against women and girls will be at the top of her agenda.

So far the detail on their plans has been light, but in their manifesto, Labour said it would introduce new specialist domestic abuse workers in 999 control rooms and put specialist rape investigation units in every force across England and Wales so that early opportunities for prevention and protection were not missed.

This would entail more trained police officers and extra resources at a time when policing faced numerous challenges including retention and morale issues.