In England, police officers are expected to be deployed to more parts of London to look out for men who are catcalling women in order to issue a £100 fine.
They are currently only being trialled in Redbridge, in East London, but it is anticipated that they will spread throughout the city.
These officers go out every night, carrying signs indicating that it is illegal to cat-call women. Special attention is given to places where women are walking home alone at night, and then these officers are dispatched there to make sure the women are safe and to step in if they suspect men of harassing them.
Redbridge Council is sponsoring a "This Has to Stop" campaign, and they say that 91 per cent of 1,834 women questioned in the borough have been the target of catcalling. It issued the first £100 punishment for the offence in London in December, making it the first council area to do so in the city.
Over 62 per cent of women reported being followed by a guy at some point in their lives. Chief Inspector Louise Jackson said the focus is still on educating men about not catcalling.
"When a woman feels uncomfortable, when she feels like she is being harassed or made to feel vulnerable, we tend to have to change our direction or change our routes or head in the opposite direction," she told the Evening Standard. "What we're saying now is this is about educational and generational change. If we start getting this message out now, hopefully years down the line it will become the norm."
In March, lawmakers in England and Wales voted in favour of making it a crime to harass someone by catcalling, following them, or blocking their route.
Conservative Greg Clark, former business secretary who put it forward, said it was "astonishing" that this was not already a crime. He stated that the intention of his bill was "to reinforce a change in the culture".
"This closes a loophole in the law, as it has never has been a specific criminal offence to harass and intimidate intentionally a woman or a girl in public," he told the BBC.
"Because it is not a specific crime, too many women and girls think there is no point in reporting it to the police.”
"This is something we don't tolerate for racial harassment or harassment on the grounds of sexuality."
