Violence against Women and Girls

As part of our commitment to continually listening as we strive to always improve our response to Violence Against Women and Girls, Police Scotland led an engagement event with stakeholders at Dalmarnock Police Office, Glasgow, on Friday 21 April.

Deputy Chief Constable Jane Connors LVO QPM and Assistant Chief Constable Bex Smith took this important opportunity to thank those who had contributed to the development of our VAWG Strategy and Implementation Plan and outline how we are addressing the matters raised.

Stakeholders including Victim Support Scotland, Scottish Women’s Aid and Scottish Government described the process as innovative, open and honest and commented positively on the integrity and transparency from Police Scotland which included acknowledging issues of sexism and misogyny within our organisation.

We remain committed to building trust and confidence in this crucial area and sharing progress and development with partners in Scottish Government, COSLA and other key organisations.

Domestic Abuse Task Force (DATF)

From 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023, the DATF secured the conviction of 41 high tariff perpetrators of Domestic Abuse. A total of 272 years’ worth of sentencing was passed, equating to an average of six years and eight months per perpetrator. Additionally, three Orders for Lifelong Restriction and 377 years’ worth of Non-Harassment Orders were granted.

Domestic abuse is a despicable and debilitating crime which affects all of our communities and has no respect for ability, age, ethnicity, gender, race, religion or sexual orientation. Police Scotland will not tolerate it, and tackling domestic abuse is a priority. We will continue to work with partners to reduce the harm it causes and eradicate it.

Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (OCSAE)

The OCSAE Unit of the National Child Abuse Investigation Unit (NCAIU) was formed as part of Police Scotland's response to the investigative challenges of online child sexual abuse and provides a proactive response to this significant issue mainly through enforcement of National Online Child Abuse Prevention (NOCAP) packages.

The premise of NOCAP is to prevent online child abuse by targeting individuals who are suspected to have a sexual interest in children. This is achieved by developing intelligence from a number of sources and creating Intelligence Packages that target the individual concerned.

Between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023, NOCAP work and enforcement action was undertaken in relation to 709 investigations. 54.5 percent of these investigations and enforcement activity led to the recovery of indecent images of children and sexual abuse material.

776 children have been protected through this work and 486 arrests made.