00:00So violence against women and girls is a key strategic priority for the British Transport
00:05Police and we've been you know working with government to have this law introduced because
00:08we kind of recognise that this offending in terms of the scale and the nature of it
00:13has been going on for too long. We previously did address these matters through other legislation in
00:19terms of public order. I think what this does is really strengthen that kind of response in terms
00:23of having a standalone piece of legislation to deal with it and equally harsher sentences for
00:29people committing this type of offending. So the important part about section 4b of the
00:33Public Order Act which is the offence in this case is that it crosses, it bridges the gap so to
00:38speak
00:39between where conduct is serious but perhaps doesn't quite meet the threshold for sexual assault.
00:45This deals with that because otherwise we would find that there would be cases that might fall
00:49within that gap. Four-seat four-year-old David Stroud of Dartford in Kent tried to make conversation
00:55with the woman, grabbed her hair and made inappropriate comments. He pleaded guilty to harassing the woman
01:01at Highbury Corner Magistrates Court which heard Stroud sat next to the woman who was on the phone
01:07to her boyfriend at the time on a London-bound train which left Hastings at around 8.50 pm.
01:14While under caution, Stroud, who had been on bail for a separate 22-month stalking campaign at the time,
01:20said it's just banter. We see a lot about cases where behaviour can escalate and particularly in
01:28my stalking role as well but even in these kinds of cases it's really important that victims feel
01:35that they should come forward and it's about sending a message to defendants that this isn't,
01:40this is more than just friendly banter. This is persistent, unwanted and deeply distressing for victims
01:46and we need to send a message that this will not be tolerated and it must stop.
01:51Well we said for you know a long time that you know we've done a lot of work in terms
01:55of kind
01:55of campaigning to really raise awareness of the type of behaviours that people should be reporting to
02:02us and we really encourage that if you're the victim of these offenders or if you witness somebody else
02:08being subjected to these behaviours then please contact the police and you can do that by texting us
02:12on 6116 and because we've been able to you know certainly on our network show the scale of the
02:18issue I think that's helped kind of drive that change through. Yeah so today we've arrested 26
02:25males for these offences on the network since it came in on the 1st of April.
02:29And is that more or less than you expected? What kind of?
02:33Well it's always difficult with new legislation but it's probably what we expected in terms of that
02:40response um albeit what I you know what I would say is that we still know it's underreported so again
02:45I'd be we would be really keen to ensure that this um this conviction plays part in giving confidence
02:50you know for people to come forward and report these behaviours or report them on behalf of somebody
02:54else if you witness somebody being subjected to these behaviours.
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