Project Vigilant will expand to nine additional police forces in England and Wales, backed by £1 million for more than 200 deployments. The Home Office announcement, published on 13 March 2026, frames the move as prevention‑led policing to disrupt predatory behaviour in the night‑time economy before offences escalate. (gov.uk)
Under the model, trained plainclothes officers operate in and around busy venues to identify high‑risk behaviours-such as loitering without purpose, unwanted or sexualised contact, persistent following, or covert filming-before directing uniformed colleagues to intervene. The emphasis is on early disruption rather than post‑incident enforcement. (gov.uk)
New funding will support deployments in Kent, Hertfordshire, Gloucestershire, Essex, South Wales, Staffordshire, Merseyside, Cumbria and West Midlands Police. These forces join Thames Valley Police, Wiltshire Police and Norfolk Constabulary, which already receive central support for Project Vigilant activity. (gov.uk)
Forces may also use the allocation to trial technology, improve data analysis, upgrade communications equipment and strengthen officer training. The package is presented by the Home Office as part of a perpetrator‑focused response in public spaces, complementing visible policing with targeted plainclothes activity. (gov.uk)
Essex Police plans 80 additional deployments. Alongside high‑visibility patrols and plainclothes teams, the force will run targeted traffic operations to deter offending linked to vehicles, including the misuse of taxis and private hire vehicles to target women on nights out. (gov.uk)
Thames Valley Police pioneered Project Vigilant in 2019. Between July 2021 and September 2023, officers stopped 532 men, with 35% identified as suspects in a violence‑against‑women‑and‑girls offence. The force has also trialled detection dogs to identify drugs associated with drink spiking, including GHB and MDMA, even when diluted. (gov.uk)
Ministers situate the expansion within the Government’s Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, published in the Commons on 18 December 2025. In that statement, the Government declared VAWG a national emergency and committed to halving these crimes within a decade, with specialist rape and serious sexual offence teams due in every force by 2029. (hansard.parliament.uk)
Operationally, deployments are undertaken within national standards. College of Policing Authorised Professional Practice and Code of Ethics materials specify that undercover officers must not provoke offences or form intimate relationships during operations and set welfare and oversight requirements for covert activity. (library.college.police.uk)
For venues, transport operators and councils, the programme signals closer partnership working with local policing teams on safeguarding and incident response. The Night Time Industries Association has publicly supported a perpetrator‑focused approach that identifies and disrupts risk early, alongside venue‑led measures to promote safer spaces. (gov.uk)
The expansion’s practical effect will be increased use of plainclothes teams alongside uniformed patrols in night‑time hotspots, with forces also able to invest in training, technology trials and data capability under the new funding. The Home Office positions these measures as early‑intervention tools designed to reduce harm before victims are targeted. (gov.uk)