CREATIVE virtual reality videos which help tackle violence against women and girls (VAWG) have earned a national award for Warwickshire Police.
The force has been crowned the winner in the ‘Technology and its use in tackling VAWG’ category at the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and College of Policing (CoP) event in London.
The force’s Learning and Development Trainer Paul Calver received the award for his work in creating the virtual reality videos, which show men and young boys how their actions and behaviours can impact on women and girls.
The videos have been shown in schools across the county as well as at university freshers’ events, and we use them to raise awareness when training new cohorts of student officers.
Paul worked with partners including Limina Immersive, RiVR, and Warwickshire Public Health to create the videos.
He said: “We wanted to tackle the violence and intimidation affecting women and girls head on.
“Virtual reality enables us to provide an immersive experience for men and boys to bring to life how their actions can make women feel.
“I’m really proud to have been involved in the project and very much hope that the VR videos influence men and boys to change their behaviour for the better.”
Ch Supt Daf Goddard said: “We are proud of Paul’s dedication to raising awareness among men and boys to see the impact of their behaviour on women and girls, and we are grateful to the local partners who supported this work.
“We hope the creative use of technology will go some way to getting men and boys to change their behaviour in the future.”
Visit https://tinyurl.com/4hus5vmr for more information on Warwickshire Police’s work to tackle VAWG.
