A leading figure in the county’s police force has called for a campaign to create a safer Cumbria for women in the aftermath of the tragic death of Sarah Everard in London.
A Met police officer is set to go on trial in the autumn accused of the kidnap and murder of the 33-year-old marketing executive.
She vanished on her walk home alone in Clapham on March 3 and her body was found a week later in Kent woodland.
In response to the tragedy, Cumbria’s police and crime commissioner Peter McCall is calling for a change in culture to help protect women and make a safer society for all.
Continuing to work with partners, including Cumbria Constabulary, the PCC says he is working to improve services and better protect women from domestic abuse, sexual assault, harassment, and stalking, and provide support to those who have experienced these crimes.
The PCC has requested that the force conduct the ‘Call It Out’ campaign.
In the last 12 months, 7,569 cases of crimes against women were recorded in Cumbria including 2,809 for stalking and harassment, 1,825 for violence with injury, 2,923 for violence without injury, ten deaths or serious injuries due to unlawful driving, and two homicides.
More than 2,500 of the perpetrators were current or ex-partners, just under 600 perpetrators were friends/acquaintances and 534 of the perpetrators were strangers to the victim.
Peter McCall, said: “The appalling abduction and murder of Sarah Everard is a tragedy and a wakeup call that we need to change our culture and do more to protect women in our communities.
“No woman should feel harassed and unsafe under any circumstances.
“We need to continue to listen to the lived experiences of women in Cumbria and work together to reduce these criminal behaviours through awareness-raising, education and correcting societal issues around victim-blaming language and placing sole-responsibility on women to protect themselves.
“Together with the Chief Constable we are determined to do more to improve the safety of women in the county and I am appealing to women and girls in our county to help by answering the call to tell us about your lived experience.
“This will give us the evidence to put resources in the right place to address the things that make you feel threatened or unsafe.
“The police will launch the campaign survey in the next few days, and I would be very grateful if as many women and girls as possible would take part and complete it, please tell us about your experience.”
Mr McCall said the reaction to the events last weekend show that people “do not fully understand the extent of harassment” experienced by many women and girls.
He says the force needs a “better understanding of these crimes, many of which almost certainly go unreported”.
Women’s Community Matters in Barrow, Women Out West in Whitehaven and Gateway 4 Women in Carlisle, all offer support to women affected by violence or abuse.
