Project Vigilant Expands to Nine New Police Forces Across England and Wales
2026
Project Vigilant has been operating in the Thames Valley area and the Home Office have confirmed this week that they will roll out the project to nine more police forces in England and Wales.
The areas receiving the £1million funding are Kent, Hertfordshire, Gloucestershire, Essex, South Wales, Staffordshire, Merseyside, Cumbria and West Midlands Police.
But what is project Vigilant- it is having specially trained undercover officers in area so as to identify and disrupt predatory behaviour in the night‑time economy. It is hailed to be one of the largest targeted crackdowns on offenders who pose a risk to women and girls in public spaces.
The officers will be located in night‑time hotspots, such as bar /pub areas of town and city centres, transport hubs and late‑night venues and they will be trained to look for high‑risk behaviour.
In particular but not exclusively:-
- Loitering without purpose
- Persistent following
- Unwanted or sexualised contact
- Misogynistic or threatening comments
- Filming women without consent
- Returning to areas after being instructed to leave