THE CHAIR ASKS
THE EPIDEMIC OF DOMESTIC ABUSE
Deputy Chief Constable Maggie Blyth, NPCC National Coordinator for Violence Against Women and Girls, told National Chair Steve Hartshorn about her vital role
Deputy Chief Constable Maggie Blyth is responsible for local policing and public protection. She currently holds the vital role of dealing with violence against women and girls. Maggie, can you introduce yourself and talk about how you got into this role and what it means to you?
I hold the portfolio for national policing through the National Police Chief’s Council to tackle our response to violence against women and girls (VAWG). It’s the first national portfolio we have had that coordinates our response across the 43 organisations to all of the work that falls under violence against women and girls. It’s a huge privilege for me to hold this role. I’ve worked within public protection within policing, and in fact other parts of the public sector as well, for the whole of my 32-year career.
18 | POLICE | DECEMBER 2022
I’m passionate about making a difference in this area.
I think we can both accept that over the last few years, the headlines have been horrendous about violence against women and girls in particular, and the problems that reflects in society. Why do you think it’s now more important than ever that we
“We know that those crimes that form part of violence against women and girls are often digital, and they’re often behind closed doors”
have a specific folio to look after the work around that? I think policing itself is facing a very different set of circumstances and responses to crime. We know that those crimes that form part of violence against women and girls are often digital, and they’re often behind closed doors. So
there’s a huge complexity behind that. I think that the pandemic itself really shone a light on the fact that so much of our lives were being spent online. That really shone a light for the public and the media about what that means in terms of crimes like domestic abuse and serious sexual offending, and brought it into a sharp focus in that two-year period of the pandemic. One woman dies every three days at the hands of a man in this country. We know that domestic abuse is about 18% of recorded crime for most police forces. Even while we’re
having this conversation today, we know that our frontline response officers will be responding to call-outs of domestic abuse. The amount of crime that’s happening that is in the VAWG space, in my mind, makes it an epidemic. I think we really need to get to grips with that threat, not just for policing, but for the threat it poses for society and
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