Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Kim McGuinness vows to improve safety for women in the North East

The pledge comes after a number of high profile national cases, including the murder of murder of Sarah Everard, raised concerns about the safety of women.

A recent national survey conducted by YouGov showed 66 per cent of women said they did not feel safe walking alone at night with 43 per cent saying they have experienced unwelcome touching or groping in public.

Commissioner McGuinness said: "We want to help women and girls feel safe and be safe in our communities.

"As Police Commissioner, I see a key part of my job as breaking down barriers and improving safety and justice for women in our region. We are making progress with this - safety apps, awareness campaigns, enhanced police patrols at night, but there’s still plenty more to do.

"This work must never stop and my thanks go to everyone working hard to make sure women and girls are and feel safe in Northumbeland and Tyne and Wear.”

Northumbria Police recently published its strategy to protect the vulnerable and tackle the issue of violence against women and girls, which focuses on making “safeguarding everyone's business, working together and early intervention to protect those who are most vulnerable in society”.

A key focus is to also support the Say No More campaign, a nationwide initiative tackling domestic abuse and sexual violence.

Detective Chief Superintendent Deborah Alderson said: "Protecting those who are vulnerable will never be exclusive to a certain role – each and every one of us can make a real difference.

"We are already working in line with the national policing approach to eliminate violence against women and girls but we wanted to demonstrate what we are doing to help those who are vulnerable to feel safe and be safe in our communities here in our region.

"We will focus on understanding vulnerability, identifying and dealing with it and showing the public more of what we are doing to keep them safe.

"We will use a problem-solving approach at the earliest intervention with a key focus on perpetrators – if we can reduce harm caused by these individuals, we can begin to eradicate violence and help protect the most vulnerable.”

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