A year ago I was coming to terms with the results of the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner elections, having achieved a creditable third against the two best organised and resourced political parties in Sussex. The top three candidates all promised to make domestic violence a high priority, knowing it was also a priority for Sussex Police. One of the important elements of my own manifesto was a commitment to work with partners to establish White Ribbon status throughout Sussex. I took this decision following discussions with a number of individuals who helped me to understand the value of this campaign and how powerful it would be to achieve this throughout Sussex. The most significant of these conversations was with an inspiring local government officer, Eleri Butler who at that time worked for Brighton & Hove City Council. Eleri had been working with colleagues for many months to enable the City to become a White Ribbon City. She was successful in her work, but sadly (for Sussex) had already made a decision to move on from her post to a new role with a charity based in London.

At its simplest the White Ribbon Campaign is a pledge never to commit, condone, or remain silent about men’s violence against women in all its forms. As with most pledges it is a great deal easier to make than to turn into reality. Brighton & Hove was an early adopter of Fairtrade status, for the last few years I have been part of a small group attempting to breathe new life into this particular pledge. In the case of Fairtrade, some early success led to a later period of complacency. It is vital that this never happens with the white ribbon pledge, but we need people like Eleri to help us avoid complacency setting in. There are also groups who feel that the white ribbon campaign focuses too much attention on the violence meted out by men on women and reinforces a stereotype that domestic violence is solely a male on female issue. This is a reasonable challenge to make, a great deal of domestic violence does take place at the hands of women. However the vast majority of the most serious violence is carried out by men on women. Let us make this our first priority and ensure our attention is not distracted from other forms of domestic abuse and violence whilst we are putting on our White Ribbon.

Although I was unsuccessful in my endeavour to be the Police and Crime Commissioner, I am delighted that Katy Bourne has kept Domestic Violence high on her list of priorities. She has even taken a leaf out of my manifesto and worked with Sussex Police to sign the force up to White Ribbon status, the first force to do so. This is excellent and a good place to start. However I hope that she read my manifesto carefully. My commitment was a great deal more challenging than to sign the force up to White Ribbon status, it was to work with the other local authorities and other statutory partners in Sussex to persuade them to sign up for a White Ribbon. This is a much bigger task, but I believe is a prize worth focusing on. In most cases the first signs of domestic violence presents itself to the NHS, to Schools or to Childrens Centres, or even in faith groups. There are many other places where the signs are first spotted.

On White Ribbon day 2013 I am really proud to live and work in an area where the Police force and one of our largest local authorities has signed up to the White Ribbon pledge. I hope that behind the scenes Katy is using her influence to persuade other organisations to do the same. If not the job she and Eleri began will need finishing off.