From the office of Wera Hobhouse Liberal Democrat MP for Bath: On Friday 6th December Wera Hobhouse joined Avon and Somerset Police (ASP) Chief Constable Sarah Crew and officers from her force in Bath City Centre to support their efforts in proactively combating violence against women and girls (VAWG) in our communities, including the roll-out of their “Project Vigilant”
Project Vigilant is an initiative currently being piloted in Bath and Weston-super-Mare that takes a perpetrator-focused approach to preventing sexual violence. Inspired by Thames Valley Police’s successful launch of the strategy, it sees specially trained plain-clothed officers patrolling outside bars, clubs and pubs to spot signs of predatory behaviour. If inappropriate behaviour is observed, such as loitering or harassment, uniformed officers intervene before the individual commits an offence.
After seeing how effective Project Vigilant was in action, Wera Hobhouse quizzed the government during Justice Oral Questions on Tuesday 10th December on their action to prevent street harassment. She said that ASP was doing an excellent job to challenge inappropriate and predatory behaviour towards women and girls in Bath and urged the government to learn from their example. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Violence Against Women and Girls, Alex Davies-Jones, said that the government were working hard to halve gender-based violence in a decade and were particularly focused on addressing harassment.
Wera has been a driving force behind tackling VAWG offences, including passing the Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019 to criminalise upskirting. She is now campaigning for misogyny to be made a hate crime. On Friday evening Wera discussed these issues with CC Crew and the role Project Vigilant could play in reducing violence against women and girls.
Neighbourhood Inspector Dudley Bond said: “Project Vigilant tactics help us understand how prolific offenders operate, so we can target resources where they’re most needed. This means women can enjoy the city’s nightlife with the threat of harassment, intimidation and assault reduced, not just in Bath but across the whole of Avon and Somerset.
“It was great to show the Chief Constable and our local MP how we carry out the operation, which we ran over three days last week from late afternoon into the early hours of the morning.”
Project Vigilant is one of many activities the Bath and North East Somerset Neighbourhood Policing Team delivered last week to address and educate the public on VAWG offences. They also led educational inputs at Bath College and Bath Spa University, arranged ‘Walk & Talk’ sessions with local people to hear about their feelings of safety, visited licensed premises to advise staff on spiking and how bystanders can intervene, and carried out taxi compliance checks, ensuring drivers are correctly registered with valid paperwork to minimise risk to female passengers.
Wera Hobhouse, Liberal Democrat MP for Bath said:
“I have long championed the rights of women to go about their lives free from harassment and it is excellent to see Avon and Somerset Police deploying preventive strategies like Project Vigilant in real time out on the streets.
“Proactive approaches such as these will hopefully mean that women in our city can feel safe and protected, particularly as they head into town for parties and celebrations this festive season.
“I was pleased to have the chance to highlight in Parliament Avon and Somerset’s fantastic efforts and I will keep pushing the government to be more ambitious in their plans to tackle street harassment and violence against women and girls.”