Wolf Whistling And Cat Calling Can Now Be Recorded As Hate Crimes
[Photo: Pexels]
Nottingham Police is now classifying street harassment as a hate crime, and is the first force in the country to do so.
Unwanted sexual advances, verbal contact (such as wolf whistling and cat calling), undesired digital messages and using a mobile to take photos without permission all count.
Actions like this are considered misogynistic if they’re directed at a victim “simply because they are a woman” under the new policy, and the moves means that they can be reported to and investigated by the police.
This way support can also be put in place for victims.
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As the first force in the country to adopt the separate misogyny hate crime category, Nottingham Police has also provided specific training to selected officers in the past three months.
The procedures were introduced in partnership with Nottingham Women’s Centre. Its manager, Melanie Jeffs, told the Guardian: “We’re pleased to see Nottinghamshire police recognise the breadth of violence and intimidation that women experience on a daily basis in our communities.
“Understanding this as a hate crime will help people to see the seriousness of these incidents and hopefully encourage more women to come forward and report offences.”
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The force defines a hate crime as “any incident which may or may not be deemed as a criminal offence, which is perceived by the victim or any other person, as being motivated by prejudice or hatred”.
Rachel Krys, co-director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition also said: “It is great that police in Nottingham will be capturing the way a lot of harassment in public spaces is targeted at women and girls.
“In a recent poll we found that 85% of women aged 18-24 have experienced unwanted sexual attention in public places and 45% have experienced unwanted sexual touching, which can amount to sexual assault.
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“This level of harassment is having an enormous impact on women’s freedom to move about in the public space as it makes women feel a lot less safe.
“The women we spoke to do a lot of work to feel safer, including avoiding parts of the city they live in, taking taxis and leaving events in groups.”
What do you think of the new policy? Tweet us at @YahooStyleUK.
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