Police target predators who target women and girls
BBCPolice officers are carrying out extra patrols in two seaside towns to keep women and girls safe at night.
Crews from Dorset Police have been specially trained to identify suspicious behaviours, including harassment, cat-calling and other forms of sexual misconduct.
Following a trial last year the force are rolling out Project Vigilant in Bournemouth and Weymouth.
It seeks to target men who have previously acted in a predatory way towards women at night and its champions have been praised in The Angiolini Inquiry - an investigation into how Met Police officer Wayne Couzens was able to abduct, rape and murder Sarah Everard in 2021.
Project Vigilant was established by Thames Valley Police (TVP) in 2019 and piloted in Oxford before being expanded into Reading, Windsor and Milton Keynes. Other forces around the county, including Dorset, have taken it on since.
TVP's work found, of about 40 people who had acted "in a predatory way" towards women in a town centre, 19 were already known to the police for sexual offences.
Teams of non-uniformed and uniformed officers work together to stop such behaviour.
The uniformed officers gather intelligence and the uniformed officers will intervene and prevent any future harmful behaviour.
The two seaside towns have been chosen because Dorset Police have had reports of sexual assaults and level harassment towards women in the street.
In 2023, the government gave a £964,055 grant for tackling countryside crime and improving the safety of women and girls at night-time in the county.
Detective Chief Inspector Jamie Halford, who is leading the operation, said "There is some cultural differences around some of this in terms of the makeup of our towns.
"We have a lot of people that are not local to the area, but they come and enjoy our towns and our beaches.
"And so where you get that mix of different people across our towns, that really becomes quite impactive in terms of how we can police that."
Halford mentioned that females may also feel more vulnerable in those locations.
Two events in Bournemouth in 2024 - International Women's Day walk by Labour MP Jessica Toale and the annual Foxstrut by photographer Jayne Jackson - highlighted the call for safer streets for women in the town.
Tom Hayes, Labour MP for Bournemouth East, who used to run a domestic abuse service, has also been outspoken on the issue and had worked with the force towards improving street safety.
