Today, 27 September, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) marks the third year anniversary of their dedicated action plan.

In September 2022, the PSNI launched the first Tackling Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) Action Plan using the then national framework for delivery. This laid out actions policing committed to take to build trust and confidence, relentlessly pursue perpetrators and create safer spaces. The revised framework for year’s three to seven, placed an even greater policing focus on outcomes that make a real difference to tackling the epidemic of VAWG.

Year three statistical updates:

Three years on (to end of August 2025), officers have made 5,042 arrests under new legislation (domestic abuse, stalking and non-fatal strangulation) and conducted hundreds of targeted patrols in their bid to relentlessly pursue perpetrators. They have also put in place four Stalking Protection Orders using new legislation.

84 arrests have been made on average each month for the domestic abuse offence, there have been an average of 19 arrests each month for the offences of stalking and threatening and abusive behaviour, with 76 arrests each month for non-fatal strangulation.

In the twelve months to July 2025 there were 21,729 VAWG offences recorded. This is a reduction of -4.0% compared to the previous 12 months. 

A proactive operational position has been taken with the recent training from Thames Valley Police for ‘Project Vigilant’. This will see tactical deployments across Northern Ireland of plain clothed and uniformed officers trained to identify predatory behaviour and intervene to safeguard within night time economy settings. A formal launch of this initiative will take place in the coming weeks.

There has been 21 ‘Walk and Talk’ events held across the province which sees neighbourhood teams meeting local women and support groups to hear first-hand their concerns to put in place measures or increase a reassuring policing presence where necessary.

Active bystander training has also been rolled out across the PSNI and the new campaign ‘Power to Change’ (that has reached over three million people online) has been developed into a mandatory internal training package to ensure officers and staff are displaying behaviours in line with the code of ethics.

Actions:

On 27th September 2022, the Police Service of Northern Ireland set out a clear seven year plan with 41 actions to affirm its commitment to building trust and confidence, relentlessly pursuing perpetrators and making all spaces safer for women and girls.

In year two they published that 33 of their 41 action were completed.

Eight actions were brought forward and a further 13 were added, these include:
A review of previous cases of sexual impropriety and misconduct alleged against PSNI personnel to ensure appropriate investigative actions were taken
Operationalise the introduction of Domestic Abuse Protection Orders / Notices
Develop scrutiny panels for rape “no prosecution” outcomes
Support the Department of Justice with the development of a domestic abuse perpetrator strategy
Out of the 21 actions, six were completed in year three with significant progress made on the remainder.

Detective Chief Inspector Leah Crothers, one of the PSNI’s Tackling VAWG Leads said: “We remain committed to doing everything we can to prevent harm, call out unacceptable attitudes and behaviours and protect women and girls wherever they live - in towns, cities and rural communities. 

“Over the last three years we have spent a significant amount of time, working with partners like the Department of Justice and The Executive Office developing our action plan and more recently a public facing campaign, Power to Change, to help address misogyny and other behaviours that we know can escalate to criminality.

“We have always been clear that it will take a societal effort to make a real change. But as a police service we have an opportunity to lead the way and to do so we have to be willing to look inwards to our own organisation and challenge our own attitudes and behaviours. This is why we have launched this year a mandatory internal training package for our officers and staff to reflect on how they can play an even greater part in making our organisation and wider society a more inclusive and safe space.

“We are also actively seeking out good practice from across the UK and have recently had Thames Valley Police over to Northern Ireland to train our tactical officers to enable us to deploy the successful Project Vigilant initiative. We want to make our night time economy settings as safe as possible and a hostile place for predatory behaviours. We will be formally launching this initiative in the coming weeks.

“Tackling Violence against Women and Girls requires commitment from all — where perpetrators are held to account, communities stand together, and we work with partners to make every space safe. This remains our goal.”

Sexual assault survivor speaks out:

24 year old year old Sophie (not her real name), has spoken out to encourage other women to seek justice. On 14th March 2021, she was a university student and had met another student from a different university on the popular dating profile Tinder. She initially engaged in consensual sex, before the defendant (Fearghall Mulgrew) bit her on her face and body and began committing sexual acts on the victim without her consent. She suffered injuries and multiple bruising from the encounter.

Sophie self-referred herself to The Rowan and reported to the Police.

On 5th February 2024 at Laganside Court, Fearghall was found guilty of sexual assault by penetration and five counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He was sentenced to 22 months, eight months in custody. He will be on the sex offenders register for ten years.

After seeking justice she wants to encourage others to do the same: “This incident has impacted my ability to form romantic relationships, I can’t be intimate with partners without a constant reminder of what happened, it’s hard not to think of it.

“This is something I am working hard to get back to through medication and a lot of work on my mental health. I have sought out counselling which is helping me learn how I could talk and take steps to rebuild myself.

“I support the work of the action plan and the recent police campaigning because I have experienced what it is like to have your rights stripped away from you. Too many men in our society have blurred lines of consent and a misogynistic view on life.

“I and so many other young women have suffered because of this. I am standing up to say it is not right and the only way to put a stop to it is to educate men and boys and for women like me to feel supported enough to report.”