Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, Kim McGuinness, said: “Male violence, particularly against women, is a really big problem and it’s just not going away. The whole of society needs a reset. Things desperately need to change. It’s absolutely the case that policing needs to change too – our police need to lead the way with this.
“Putting perpetrators under the spotlight rather than victims and taking a proactive approach to prevention are key. I know these are already priorities for Northumbria Police and the force will be doing more around this. There is no question the focus has to be on education – to break the cycle and stop young people becoming perpetrators.
“We also need to look at the whole picture and there needs to be a drive to shift prosecution practice, court attitudes and misogyny and sexism in every single workplace.
“Crucially though, we need victims needs to be properly funded and treated as a priority. Likewise, we need our police forces to be properly funded to tackle the problem head on. This needs to be a time for realisation by Government – cuts won’t cut VAWG crime and it’s about time we did.”
