Leicestershire Police supports sexual violence awareness campaign

Leicestershire Police is supporting this week’s national awareness campaign ‘It’s Not Ok’.

The campaign aims to reach people affected by these types of abuse and to highlight services, support and guidance available.

Leicestershire Police work with support agencies as part of the Response to Sexual Violence (R2SV) group, the partners include Trade, Quetzal, First Step, Jasmine House and FreeVa.

These services are available to adults and young people across Leicestershire, whether crimes are recent, historic or reported to the police.

Among them is Juniper Lodge – a Sexual Assault Referral Centre known as a SARC. They provide a safe space to discuss options for victims of sexual assault, with no pressure to report to the police.

Manager Millie Gant, said: “How people choose to proceed is entirely up to them, our team will wholly support all decisions made. We know there are barriers which impact people choosing to come forward and we want to reassure those people that they will be treated non-judgementally.

“If you have been a victim of sexual abuse or violence or have concerns about a loved one, please know that the SARC team, support organisations and the police, are accessible to you for advice. This can be either by telephone or initially on-line if you feel it is too overwhelming to pick up the phone.”

Police and Crime Commissioner Rupert Matthews is urging people to come forward to report sexual abuse or violence.

He said: “Victims of crime are at the heart of everything we do. It is imperative that victims of rape and sexual violence have the confidence to come forward to seek support and justice.

“As a society and an organisation, I want to see more people coming forward to report offences and am pleased to see recent legislation designed to make investigations less invasive for victims. I sincerely hope that in time we will be able to gauge just how under-reported these truly abhorrent crimes so that prevention and support services can be targeted at those most at risk.”

Mr Matthews’ office has allocated over £1.7m of funding for domestic abuse and sexual violence support services.

Visit www.leics.police.uk/news for more details on available support.