What we are doing to keep Barnet safe

Our vision is for Barnet to be a borough where everyone can live free of domestic abuse and violence against women and girls (VAWG).

Barnet Council is committed to reducing the prevalence of domestic abuse and all forms of violence against women and girls, by improving the support and outcomes received for all victims and survivors in Barnet and holding those responsible accountable.

Our focus on changing behaviour

Tina McElligott, Chair of VAWG Delivery Group and Director for Early Help & Children’s Social Care Services has said:

"We want our children to grow up in households without the fear and trauma of domestic abuse and we want women and girls to be able to move freely around the borough without the fear of violence, harassment, and abuse.

Barnet Council, together with our partners from Police, Probation Services, Community Safety, Housing, Middlesex University, Health Services and broad range of commissioned services, voluntary and community providers remain committed to keeping Barnet safe for everyone who lives, goes to school and works in the borough.

As a partnership we have made strong progress against the aims we set in our Domestic Violence and Violence Against Women & Girls (VAWG) Strategy 2022 to 2025, which is focused on changing behaviours that foster violence against women and girls through education, early intervention and delivery of perpetrator programmes, including our ground-breaking Culturally Integrated Family Approach (CIFA) Programme in partnership with RISE Mutual CiC, aimed at breaking cycles of abuse."

Our commitment to improving safety

Councillor Sara Conway, Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Participation has said:

"Early intervention and prevention of domestic abuse and violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a key priority for Barnet’s Safer Communities Partnership Board.

Alongside our domestic abuse support services, Barnet Council now has a range of initiatives to help tackle crime and anti-social behaviour and enable people to feel safer.

We have invested £2.3 million in upgrading and expanding our CCTV network, have introduced a Public Space Protection Order across the whole Borough, aswell as delivering regular pop-up community safety hubs and ward walks.

We also have dedicated ward-specific Community Safety Team who you can report issues directly to for investigation and enforcement.

Please read more details about our community safety programme.

As part of our pro-active approach to improve safety for women and girls, we are also launching a trial of ‘Safe Haven’s which will provide a place for women and girls to seek support if they feel threatened or vulnerable, together with a training toolkit for local businesses."

How we are tackling violence

Superintendent Lorraine Busby-McVey of the Barnet Neighbourhood Team has said:

"Tackling violence remains our top operational priority, including crimes that disproportionately affect women and girls, such as domestic abuse and sexual violence. Male violence against women and girls has a profound and long-lasting impact on those directly affected, shattering the lives of victims, their families and those closest to them.

Such violence also affects local communities and impacts on how safe people feel where they live, and how confident they are in their local police service.

We will not stop in our mission to tackle violence perpetrated by men against women and girls, and to give our public the confidence they need to trust that we’ll always uphold the highest professional standards in policing.

The Met I know, and love wants to improve. Our officers are ready to serve, day in and day out, and choose to risk their own lives to save and protect others.

We will do all we can with our partners and stakeholders across Barnet to prevent male violence towards women and girls. Where violence does occur, we will be relentless in our mission to bring offenders to justice, and to give victims the care and support they need and deserve."