Cleveland Police wins national award for helping to prevent Violence Against Women and Girls

A Cleveland Police initiative aimed at safeguarding sex workers has won a national award for helping to prevent Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG).

In the first National Police Chief’s Council and College of Policing’s recognition event for police officers, staff and volunteers working to tackle Violence Against Women and Girls, Cleveland Police officers were nominated in two categories.

Detective Superintendent Helen Barker, lead on VAWG for Cleveland Police, was shortlisted for the VAWG Ambassador award after working hard to improve cultures and deliver the first VAWG Conference and force-wide week of action resulting in 83 arrests for VAWG offences.

Det Supt Barker leads Cleveland Police at a regional and national level in progressing this vital work and developing the force’s VAWG action plan.

Operation Beech, which took place in Middlesbrough, aimed to safeguard sex workers, gather intelligence to identify offenders and protect the vulnerable people involved in sex work. The operation won the ‘Working Together’ category out of over 140 nominations nationally, and the officers involved were presented with their award at a ceremony in London on Wednesday 6 September 2023.

The recognition event was developed and judged jointly by police forces and representatives from charities including SafeLives, Suzy Lamplugh Trust and Karma Nirvana, alongside the Domestic Abuse Commissioner for England and Wales, Nicole Jacobs, and police staff associations.

Chief Inspector Wendy Tinkler, Detective Inspector Dan Cook and Detective Constable Libby Malcolm commenced the operation in January 2023 alongside local charity A WAY OUT, leading to more than forty women being supported and offered safeguarding advice.

Over the course of Operation Beech, officers identified over 70 sex buyers or those associated with offending against sex workers.  44 sex workers engaged with the operation and officers saw women begin to flag down officers in the street to share their concerns. Creating these positive relationships helps to keep vulnerable people safe and reduce the number of serious and violent crimes being committed.

Calls into Cleveland Police’s Force Control Room, relating to sex work in the Middlesbrough area also decreased.

All winning entries had to demonstrate how trust and confidence was built as part of the work, the approach was victim-centred and show the impact, including how they were pursuing perpetrators.

Cleveland Police Chief Constable Mark Webster said: “Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls is such important work and there have been brilliant examples of creative initiatives such as Operation Beech which have helped us tackle some of these issues. I am very proud of the work being done in Cleveland to protect vulnerable victims.

“Having this amazing work acknowledged at a national level is testament to its success and I’d like to congratulate the Operation Beech team on their achievement.

“Cleveland Police officers, staff and partners are all committed to reducing Violence Against Women and Girls and it is vital we continue to work together to achieve this together.”