Police officers from Sweden have joined Wiltshire Police on a Project Vigilant deployment in Swindon to learn more about how we tackle sexual predators in the night-time economy.
Wiltshire Police first adopted the Project Vigilant initiative in 2021, following its launch by Thames Valley Police in 2019.
Deployments consist of intelligence-led patrols of hotspot locations to identify potential sexual predators and prevent violence against women and girls (VAWG) across the county.
Assistant Chief Constable Liz Coles said: “Reducing violence against women and girls across Swindon and Wiltshire is a key priority for the force.
"We are committed to ensuring that everyone can enjoy our towns and cities and feel safe on a night out.
“We were pleased to welcome colleagues from the Swedish Police Authority, who are seeking to strengthen their approach to tackling public space sexual violence.
"They identified Wiltshire Police as a force with established experience in delivering Project Vigilant and were keen to learn from our work.
“During their visit, they observed our methods for identifying and managing risk in public spaces, as well as our strong partnership approach.
“In the past six months, our officers have assessed almost 200 individuals. This highlights both the scale of our activity and our focus on early intervention and prevention.
"It also reflects the professionalism and innovation of our teams, whose work is making a real difference locally while contributing to best practice internationally.”
A total of 18 officers from the Swedish Police Authority arrived on Wednesday May 20 to be trained in Vigilant tactics before deploying in Swindon.
During the deployment, a range of departments came together to identify individuals exhibiting predatory behaviour.
This involves a joined-up approach between uniformed officers, plain-clothes officers and the drone unit, with support from local authority CCTV teams, Royal Military Police and Immigration Officers.
If anyone was seen displaying predatory behaviour, uniformed officers intervened and took appropriate action.
Inspector Johann Danielsson, Coordinator for Particularly Vulnerable Victims of Crime in Lidingö–Kungsholmen Local Police District, Swedish Police Authority said: “We are very glad and excited to visit our colleagues in England and learn from their experiences and methods developed for Project Vigilant.
“Preventing sexual offences in the night-time economy is an important and prioritised area for us within the Stockholm Police Department.
"We need to continue to evolve our preventative efforts to ensure that all people can feel safe and secure while enjoying a night out.”
Inspector Cecilia Närfors, Coordinator for Particularly Vulnerable Victims of Crime in the Stockholm Police Region said: “We currently lack a research-based method in Sweden for preventing sexual offences in the night-time economy.
"That is why we are very pleased to have the opportunity to come to England and bring this approach back to Sweden.”
It is vital that the public report instances of predatory behaviour they have witnessed or experienced, as well as locations they find intimidating, to the police. This helps the police to target their response effectively and prevent offences from taking place.
The force says that although the public might not always receive a response when they submit intelligence, they can rest assured that officers act on information.
Any intelligence can be reported here.
More information about Project Vigilant can be found here.
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