A new role to stamp out violence against women and girls has been created by Cumbria police.
Matthew Belshaw is the force’s new operational violence against women and girls detective inspector – and his aim is to crack down on violence, sexism and misogyny in the county.
DI Belshaw has worked for Cumbria police for 19 years, and has been a detective for 17 years, working in specialist roles including the child exploitation protection unit and has also worked with the Home Office investigating human trafficking of women and girls.
DI Belshaw said the new role and addressing violence against women and girls in a co-ordinated response from the whole police service was just as important as tackling any other crime.
He added: “Research and statistics show that women are far more likely to be victims of certain kinds of crime. They are statistically more likely to be victims of a crime at the hands of men, twice as more likely to be victims of stalking compared to men, and are three times as likely to be affected by domestic abuse related stalking. So women are disproportionately targeted.
“It is time that men such as myself stand up and actually challenge the status quo. I want to inspire other men to challenge inappropriate behaviours, I want to see criminal behaviours’ and violence against women stop and a lot of this begins with attitudes and behaviours early on in life before it actually culminates in a criminal offence. It is about looking in the mirror for men and it is about challenging those attitudes.
“I want to send the message to officers within Cumbria police and the public that we are not going to accept any form of misogyny or sexism in Cumbria.
“I think that the fact that I’m a man is going to be really useful for this role and promoting our message, because the message needs to be received by men.
“I personally feel that men respond better when other men actually speak to them, a lot of research has shown this, so delivering the message to men by a man is going to be really important here.
“I’m asking people to question their own behaviours and attitudes towards women and girls because ultimately when we get to a report of an offence against a woman or girl, then that’s too late. Police work is a lot about prevention as much as it is about detention.”
The role will provide operational oversight for crime investigation, officer and staff development, deterrence and preventative operations while also co-ordinating partnership working.
Feeling unsafe is not exclusive to women, however sexual violence and harassment offences are overwhelmingly committed by men against females.
DI Belshaw said: “In the long term, a whole societal attitude change has to happen. We have to talk about this and we have to address it, men have to stand up and challenge behaviours which are unacceptable, women need to stand up and challenge behaviours which are unacceptable, we all need to be working together to tackle violence against women and girls.
“A lot of this approach has come from events in London and the murder of Sarah Everard which was committed by a police officer, which we’re very conscious of and we’re very conscious of how that does affect public confidence.”
DI Belshaw said he would work with partners across Cumbria to offer support and listen to the issues and understand what additional measures need to be taken to tackle crime.
He added: “I want to reassure the public that sexism and misogyny is being looked at by all levels of society. We’re going to be working with schools and educators about how boys and girls develop attitudes towards women and girls in those early years and with women’s centres.
“We’re going to be working with all levels of society to try and address these attitudes and behaviours which ultimately lead to violence against women and girls.”
The new role follows the results of the constabulary’s Call it Out campaign last year, which saw over 5,000 people answer a survey about safety, with extra feedback from victims and partner agencies.
Cumbria police said it had undertaken months of behind-the-scenes work to create the position.
