South Yorkshire Police chief says force will “root out” dodgy cops as new campaign is launched
A South Yorkshire Police chief has said the force will “identify and root out” staff that do not uphold its values, as the force launches its Know More campaign about online abuse of women and girls.
The campaign aims to “call out online abuse and harassment for what it is”, and raise awareness of behaviours which people may not know are offences.
Assistant Chief Constable Hayley Barnett said: “This is mostly about male perpetrated violence towards women and girls. We know men can be victims of abuse [online], but it is at such a disproportionate level.
“It’s a societal issue which we are sadly not seeing addressed at the very early ages. We need parents and guardians to take responsibility, to make sure their children have respect for women and girls.
“There is often an element of power imbalance, or perceived power imbalance, which is deep-seated.”
Stalking and harassment make up 23 per cent of all online offences in the UK, and women with public roles and profiles such as influencers, politicians or journalists are particularly at risk.
Three quarters of women working in journalism in the UK have experienced rape or death threats, harassment and stalking, according to recent data.
ACC Barnett added: “We’re encouraging everyone to understand the seriousness of these appalling behaviours and recognise them for what they are – crimes that have long lasting implications for victims.”
But online offences, such as cyberstalking and cyberflashing, are underreported to police.
Data from earlier this year revealed over a third of women had no or little trust in police to handle violence against women and girls (VAWG) offences.
ACC Barnett said: “Sadly, there have been cases where men within policing have let victims down, and we haven't done enough, and we are working really hard to overcome this.
“We are a proactive organisation that will look to identify and root out those that do not uphold our values and, quite frankly, go on to commit offences.”
Home Office figures show that in the year to April 2023, 115 and 43 staff were found guilty of crimes, and a quarter of this total were convicted of sexual offences.
ACC Barnett added: “Whether they are police officers and police staff members [or not], they will be treated the same.
“If there is distrust in police, there are other agencies that we would encourage victims to speak out to if they don’t feel police are the best for that.
“This is an underrepresented issue, so [with more information] we could shape our services for the better and do the very best for people of South Yorkshire.”
Know More, which is a poster-based and digital campaign, follows on from ‘No More’ and ‘Do More’ which were also VAWG campaigns launched in 2022 and 2023.
It has been developed with input from the force’s VAWG Independent Advisory Group, the University of Sheffield, Women in Journalism, and Reach Plc.