Police Now officers and Principle One develop national app to tackle violence against women and girls
Monday 9th June 2025
Three Police Now officers developed an innovative new app whilst on secondment to Principle One, to help tackle Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG): a national, critical issue.
The app drives national consistency and improvements in the use of Protective Orders by frontline officers – used to safeguard victims of domestic violence, stalking, harassment, and other forms of VAWG.
Neighbourhood officers on Police Now’s National Graduate Programme are given the chance to work closely with industry partners through a four-week secondment, to develop as leaders, work on public safety initiatives, and build closer working relationships between policing and its partners.
Police Now officers Mark, Amelia and Marcus – who all completed the programme in West Midlands Police or Essex Police – spent their secondment with Principle One, a consultancy that works with UK Law Enforcement to address the challenges of an increasingly diverse threat environment. They were tasked with designing a solution to help frontline officers make better and more consistent use of Protective Orders nationally, alongside the experts at Principle One.
Protective Orders play a key part in safeguarding victims of VAWG but can include complex legislation, with a multitude of different Protective Orders available for different situations. The app simplifies and centralises the process that officers go through to identify the best Protective Order for each case. It presents officers with a series of questions and quickly points them to the most appropriate Protective Order, the legislation it relates to, best practice guidance, and other useful information.
It aims to improve public trust and confidence in the police and provide a better service to the public – by supporting officers to quickly and confidently access information, respond to questions, and provide informed recommendations in real time from the frontline.
Mark Reynolds, who now works as a business analyst at Principle One to continue driving innovation and improvements across the sector, said: “The national networking and training opportunities provided by Police Now’s programme, and the brilliant support we received at Principle One, allowed us the time and space to focus on driving these improvements for policing and the public. Everything about the project is aimed at supporting and safeguarding those affected by violence and crime, who turn to the police for support in their time of need.
“We hope the app will continue to empower frontline officers to use Protective Orders as effectively as possible and drive more consistency in the way Protective Orders are used nationally, so that victims or potential victims of crime get the best possible service.”
The Protective Order App can be accessed by officers at any point during a shift via their mobile devices. It is free to use and was developed using software already available to policing, ensuring it is simple and cost-effective to deploy, configure and maintain.
Since the secondment in 2023, Principle One has continued to build on the secondees’ work, engaging with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) VAWG Taskforce and College of Policing to gain necessary permissions and launch the app nationally.
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