Ending victim blaming in the context of violence against women and girls.

Why language, attitudes, and behaviours matter. 

Our work on violence against women and girls 

The IOPC has committed to a programme of work focused on violence against women and girls. This has been prioritised in response to increasing public concern about the police response to violence against women and girls and cultural attitudes in policing towards women and girls. A key focus of the work will address actions from the investigation into the Centre for Women’s Justice super-complaint on police perpetrated domestic abuse. By focusing on our statutory function, oversight of the police complaints system, we aim to: 

• Improve trust and confidence in complainants and those who support them in the police response to violence against women and girls 

• Hold the police to account for their response to violence against women and girls 

• Identify and share learning to improve policing practice 

• Ensure the public understand our role within the police handling of violence against women and girls 

Who we are 

The Independent Office for Police Conduct is the police complaints watchdog. We are not the police and are completely independent of them. We set the standards for the police complaints system. We make sure the police are investigating complaints about them properly. We also investigate the most serious and sensitive incidents involving the police ourselves. 

Through our work, we hold the police to account when things go wrong, recommend changes to prevent the same mistakes happening again and promote high standards of policing. We use our evidence to drive improvements in police practices for the benefit of the public and the police. This will help achieve our vision for everyone to be able to have trust and confidence in policing.