Women victims have been ‘let down', Wiltshire Police admits

Wiltshire Police says it has "let down" women and girls who have been afraid to report violent crimes for "too long".

Det Supt Sarah Robbins, Wiltshire Police's lead on violence against women and girls (VAWG), said the force "will do better".

It comes after a survey found a third of women in Wiltshire who have been victims of crime have not reported it.

Det Supt Robbins says she thinks there wouldn't be such a focus on VAWG if it wasn't for the murder of Sarah Everard.

Wiltshire Police has a team dedicated to tackling VAWG, which covers domestic abuse, rape and serious sexual offences, stalking and harassment.

"Domestic violence accounts for around 19 per cent of all crime reported to Wiltshire Police. That's huge," Det Supt Robbins said.

"Why are we tolerating this happening to our sisters, to our friends, our mothers? It's time for society to say stop."

Wiltshire Police has trained around 1,500 officers in how to tackle domestic violence, and has around 100 domestic abuse champions.

It comes after last year's police survey of almost 1,200 women found 33 per cent of victims would not report crimes in the future based on experience of reporting them previously.

"I was disappointed [by the results] but not shocked. Women have been let down by the police service in Wiltshire for too long," Det Supt Robbins said.

"We haven't encouraged people to report and when they have reported, we haven't given them enough support. We want to be better and we will be better.

"We are arresting far more domestic abuse perpetrators, rapists, sexual abusers, stalkers. We are charging many more than we used to and we are sending many more to prison."

Part of Wiltshire Police's mission to tackle VAWG is a campaign called Project Vigilant which involves deploying plain-clothed officers to nightclubs.

Det Supt Robbins says she understands women might be concerned about this.

"We have an officer verification check - so if you're ever stopped by an officer you can call 101 and our control centre can tell straight away if that officer is legitimate," she said.

"I do get that what happened to Sarah Everard was so extreme and horrific, we as a police service will never recover from that.

"I don't know if this focus would have been put on violence against women and girls if it wasn't for the murder of Sarah Everard."

Det Supt Robbins says she wants victims to report their crimes to Wiltshire Police, but that there are links to charities which can also help on the police website.

"If you cant come to the police, seek help somewhere. There are services out there," she said.

Follow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [email protected]