CUMBRIA Police have launched a survey asking women and girls how safe they feel in their own homes, neighbourhoods, and towns.
Completed online, the survey will give police a clearer idea when approaching crime affecting women and girls.
This is part of ongoing work to address the national issue of violence against women and girls (VAWG).
Cumbria Police said that since April 2022, Cumbria has ranked either first or second in the country for convictions at court in relation to VAWG offences, with an average of between 84 per cent and nearly 87 per cent ending in a guilty plea or verdict.
Detective superintendent Sally Blaiklock said: “This is the second time we’ve run the Call It Out Survey. It’s new this time because we’ve improved the questions we’ve set around it.
“Its purpose is to encourage women and girls to use the survey to report to us where they feel unsafe and how unsafe they feel.
“These places may be at home, in public, or online, and what we do with the data we will assess it to help direct our police resources to the areas where women and girls have said that they would feel better supported if we were to take some action there.”
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Detective inspector Matt Belshaw who is working on the survey said: “The benefits of it are that we will be able to identify the spaces and partners who own those spaces, giving us the opportunity to work in conjunction with partners.
“From the last campaign that we ran, it gave us a really good opportunity to engage with the University of Cumbria and Cumbria County Council, we set up a welfare hub in Carlisle on Botchergate from that.”
Detective superintendent Blaiklock added: “Violence against women and girls is unacceptable and Cumbria Constabulary and our partners always treat these issues seriously.
“In Cumbria Constabulary, we all wish to deliver an outstanding service and keep all people safe.
“In this respect, violence against women and girls is no different and we are always looking to see how we can get better and improve our services for the sake of our communities in Cumbria.
“Feeling unsafe is obviously not an experience exclusive to women and girls.
“But sexual violence and harassment offences are overwhelmingly committed by males against females.
“We believe we have made great progress in improving how we deal with these offences and issues.
“Cumbria is one of the safest places to live, however, these crimes do happen here.”
The survey, which will run until April 2 and is completely anonymous, is available at https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/LSYSYC/.
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