Our statement following the latest report in Angiolini Inquiry

Today’s report from The Angiolini Inquiry has unequivocally made clear the importance of a whole-society approach to tackling violence against women and girls, with policing having an integral role to play. 

Avon and Somerset Police was one of several police forces to take part in this section of the inquiry, which focuses on the prevention of sexually motivated crimes against women in public spaces. 

Two of the key findings relate to the need for a national rollout of Project Vigilant – a policing operation targeting predatory men in the nighttime economy, and the effective implementation of Operation Soteria, a programme of work to transform the policing and criminal justice response to rape. The report says both provide “a visible grip on prevention, with a focus on perpetrators”.  

Operation Soteria, which explicitly focuses on perpetrators with a victim-centred and evidence-led approach, was developed and piloted by Avon and Somerset Police in 2021 as Project Bluestone, after we invited academics in to review our policing response to rape and serious sexual offences. 

As a result of launching this approach, now known as Operation Bluestone, reporting rates for rape in our force area have doubled and charging rates have gone up four-fold.  

The report says: “Soteria has been shown to work. It is positive that it has been adopted nationally, which is testament to both its data-driven approach, underpinned by robust academic research, and the commitment of Chief Constable Sarah Crew (which the Inquiry considers to be evidence of the importance of a senior policing champion in establishing new national ways of working).  

Following Thames Valley Police’s lead, we also started piloting Project Vigilant in 2024, which has seen plain-clothed officers go out into areas around pubs, bars and clubs, looking for signs of predatory behaviour. These officers contact uniformed colleagues who intervene and prevent criminal behaviour and escalation before it happens.  

This has now been rolled out into areas across Avon and Somerset and the tactics are being used at sporting events and other venues where there are large crowds to keep women and girls safe.    

Assistant Chief Constable Joanne Hall said: “We’re resolutely committed to eradicating violence against women and girls in Avon and Somerset, and we’re continually evaluating and assessing our response to these devastating offences.  

“We listened carefully to the issues highlighted in Part 1 of the Angiolini Inquiry and have worked our way through the recommendations that came to us from this, improving or instigating new ways of working which take into account the Operation Soteria and Bluestone principles of ensuring investigations are perpetrator-focused, victim-centred, and context led. 

“One example of this is our new initiative to transform and improve the way we address and tackle domestic abuse, again through a collaboration with leading academics who are experts in this field. Project Bright Light will take a comprehensive and evidence-led approach to analyse how domestic abuse is currently policed and will take a forensic approach looking at how we can improve. 

“We’ll carefully consider the recommendations made for policing in this second report and remain committed to going further and faster to keep women and girls safe, stopping the offenders who cause such unspeakable harm.”