Sexual assault is depressingly common on public transport, and if you travel regularly on the train or tube, chances are you’ll know someone this has happened to you, even if you’ve managed to avoid it yourself. Maybe it was a friend of yours was minding her business on her morning commute, when someone felt her up in a crowded carriage. Or maybe you were making your way home on a night out, when you felt something rustling behind you followed by an unpleasant damp feeling all the way down the back of your leg. Yes, it’s grim, and unwanted sexual attention has become if not an accepted part of travelling around inner cities, then certainly an unsurprising one.
Which is why it’s depressing, but not that shocking, to learn that last year sex assaults on the Underground and Overground rail networks rose to their highest level in the past five years. The figures, which were obtained in a freedom of information request from London Live, showed their were 403 attacks in the 12 months until January 2014, compared to 310 in the previous year. Of the victims, 367 were women and only 88 of the cases lead to the suspect being charged.
But don’t throw away your season ticket just yet – these stats are probably a sign that more women are actually reporting sexual assaults on public transport (which is a good thing) rather than a sign that the number assaults themselves is increasing (which would be a bad thing). The police say that this is down to the prevalence of Project Guardian, an ongoing operation designed to increase people’s confidence in reporting assaults on public transport to the police. Statistics show that there is definitely a need for the police operation, as surveys show that 15% of women have experiences ‘unwarranted sexual behaviour’ on trains, but only 5% of those incidents are reported.
Inspector Ricky Twyford said, ‘We know there is huge under-reporting and the aim of this operation is to give anybody who may experience a sexual offence or unwanted sexual behaviour on London’s public transport system the confidence to report it.
‘We believe the increase in the number of reported attacks is due to a rise in confidence rather than an increase in the number of incidents.’
So as depressing as this story initially sounds, there’s potentially some great news here. Because the more of us who speak out, the less acceptable it will be for a total stranger to give you a sneaky grope next time you’re trying to get across town for a 9am meeting.
Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophiecullinane
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.