Preventing serious harm in Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) cases depends on what happens at the earliest point of contact. In this intensive, 60-minute operational webinar, policing practitioners will examine how to look beyond single-incident call-outs to spot hidden vulnerabilities, recognise high-risk escalation markers, and deploy timely multi-agency and legal interventions before offending spirals into severe violence.
Why Join the Course
- Built for Operational Reality: Designed for busy policing schedules—gain practical risk-spotting checklists, professional curiosity prompts, and early intervention pathways in just one hour.
- Look Beyond the Presenting Incident: Learn how to identify covert coercive control, stalking behaviours, non-fatal strangulation indicators, and digital surveillance that victims may not initially disclose.
- Aligned with National Guidance: Reinforces College of Policing Authorised Professional Practice (APP), DASH/DARA risk assessment principles, and the National Policing VAWG Framework.
- Actionable Safeguarding & Disruption: Understand how to trigger rapid multi-agency referrals (such as MARAC) and apply protective orders early to safeguard victims and disrupt perpetrators.
Why It Matters
Domestic homicides, serious sexual assaults, and severe stalking cases rarely occur without warning—they are almost always preceded by a pattern of escalating behaviour and missed opportunities for intervention. When incidents are treated in isolation, or when victim trauma is mistaken for non-cooperation, high-risk perpetrators continue unchecked.
Equipping officers and staff to recognise subtle vulnerability markers and act decisively at the earliest opportunity saves lives, reduces repeat victimisation, and builds stronger, evidence-led safeguarding outcomes.
Who Should Attend
This webinar is tailored specifically for serving police officers, police staff, and policing partners, including:
- Response and Neighbourhood Policing officers (first responders and PCSOs)
- Force Control Room (FCR) call handlers, dispatchers, and THRIVE assessors
- Public Protection Unit (PPU), Domestic Abuse, and Safeguarding investigators
- CID officers, intelligence analysts, and offender managers
- Sergeants, Inspectors, and supervisory officers reviewing risk assessments and safeguarding plans
- Police staff, Victim Care officers, and multi-agency safeguarding leads
Learning Objectives
By the end of this 60-minute session, attendees will be able to:
- Identify Hidden Risk & Escalation Markers: Recognise high-harm indicators—including coercive control, non-fatal strangulation, stalking fixation, and separation triggers—even when a victim minimises or does not disclose abuse.
- Assess Vulnerability Using Professional Curiosity: Evaluate situational, psychological, and intersecting vulnerabilities (such as age, immigration status, disability, or substance dependency) that heighten victim risk and barrier to reporting.
- Conduct Effective Frontline Risk Assessments: Apply structured risk assessment tools (such as DARA/DASH and THRIVE) accurately at first contact to capture full context and historic patterns.
- Trigger Early Multi-Agency & Legal Interventions: Act decisively to initiate safeguarding referrals, safety planning, and protective measures (such as DVPNs/DVPOs, DAPOs, and Stalking Protection Orders) to disrupt harm early.
