Exclusive
Netflix hit Adolescence should force change, UK's most senior domestic abuse police officer tells LBC
25 March 2025, 05:43
One of England's most senior police officers has told LBC the hit Netflix series Adolescence should encourage people to take a stand against violence against women and girls.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Assistant Commissioner Louisa Rolfe, who is national policing lead for domestic abuse, said she welcomed the awareness raised by the drama of the issue of young men viewing misogynistic content online.
AC Rolfe said she was "really concerned" about the level of harmful material "now available in your pockets", saying research showed exposure to violent pornography and derogatory views about women and girls increased consumers' tolerance for violence against them.
Praising the Stephen Graham series for "bringing this to the fore", AC Rolfe said "it shouldn't have taken a brilliant, creative filmmaker to make this happen".
"I really do welcome things like Adolescence that are really bringing this to the fore and making us all think really deeply about some of the horrific things that have happened", she said.
Read more: Revealed: Secret behind incredible camera shot in Netflix's new 'masterpiece' Adolescence
"As a police officer working in Bristol, Birmingham and London for the last 34 years, I've seen far too many cases of young people killed by another young person, and two families lives are destroyed by that. Nobody wants to be in either family's place.
"Surely we want to do more to prevent these things happening. So I think it's great that this has come to the fore, but it shouldn't have taken a brilliant, creative filmmaker to make this happen", she said.
AC Rolfe said the drama could encourage people "to think about what we might need to do as individuals to take a stand and change the way the world is working".
It comes as new data revealed more than 1,000 domestic abuse victims have been killed or taken their own lives in the last four years.
An annual report by the National Police Chief's Council found that in total there were 1,012 domestic abuse-related deaths between April 1 2020 and March 31 2024.
'Women are five times more likely than men to have intimate image abuse,’ explains Ofcom's Chief Exec
Suspected suicide was the most common cause of death among victims in England and Wales in the year to the end of March 2024 for the second year running.
The issue of domestic abuse suicides was highlighted most recently in the case of Ryan Wellings, who was cleared of the manslaughter of his ex-girlfriend Kiena Dawes but convicted of domestic abuse.
AC Rolfe said more perpetrators will be charged with manslaughter following their victims' deaths.
She said it is "heartening" that more police investigations are being launched into fatalities following domestic abuse.
Over the four years, 501 deaths were recorded as domestic homicides, 332 of which were committed by current or ex-partners and 169 by another adult relative.
354 were suspected victim suicides following domestic abuse, and police chiefs say the increase in recent years is due to improvements in recording.
