Philip Allott has launched a North Yorkshire and York survey to consult on violence against women and girls and an outline plan to tackle the issues. The survey which is being promoted on Facebook and Twitter is aimed at determining the level of violence in the County and is in response to public concerns for the safety of women following the tragic death of Sarah Everard who was originally from York.
Philip who is the North Yorkshire Conservative, Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner candidate in this May’s election has also a number of plans to improve the safety of women if he is elected and he also wants to build on a number of existing initiatives.
As part of a national allocation of money, North Yorkshire and York have been granted £500,000 to spend on improving female safety. Philip wants some of this money spent on increased policing around pubs and night clubs when they open and improvements to the CCTV network to allow a universal solution for North Yorkshire. Currently CCTV cameras are run by different Councils, which can hamper police investigations and even result in the police being charged for access.
Philip will also be looking to develop a multi-agency taskforce where social services, schools, retail businesses and the police work more closely together to identify male perpetrators of violence against women, to educate younger men who might be at risk of being violent and to provide more protection for women. The latter could include an extension of the ‘ask for Angela’ scheme in York where women who are being followed or intimidated can find sanctuary in certain venues like pubs and shops by asking to see Angela.
Philip also plans to ensure that successfully prosecuted perpetrators of violence against women and girls are given extensive media publicity as a deterrent to others.
Philip said:
It is deeply concerning that too many women remain victims of domestic and sexual violence. Therefore, I will also work to raise awareness and try and get people especially men to become more aware of what constitutes violence, abuse, controlling behaviour, sexual abuse and consent.
This is going to be a substantial project, and the best way of achieving our objectives of protecting women and young girls is to have a multi-agency approach. If elected the £500,000 should be invested into things that will provide long term security.
Philip said:
Therefore, whilst including in my Police and Crime Plan increased police activities based on both plain clothed and high visibility uniforms, we also need to ensure that we get the best possible return from CCTV, and that other key stakeholders engage in the process to help us reduce or stop violence against women and girls.
I will be pressing the Home Secretary to consider a law change that would allow men responsible for lower-level misbehaviour to be given a night time tag, to curtail lower-level anti-social behaviour towards women and society in general.
