Surrey Police have taken an unusually direct approach to tackling street harassment: sending undercover female officers out jogging to catch catcallers in the act.
The “Jog On” campaign, now rolling out across the county, places plainclothes officers in running gear along popular routes. Support crews shadow them from a distance, ready to step in if harassment occurs. Police say the aim isn’t just to stop offending in the moment but to change the culture that makes it so common in the first place.
The tactic comes after a Surrey County Council survey of 450 women found that nearly half who’d experienced harassment while running never reported it. Reigate and Banstead Commander Inspector Jon Vale said that finding underscored how underreported the problem is.
“We recognise this is a significant worry for women and girls,” Vale said. “We’ll continue to patrol running routes… For repeat offenders or where the behaviour is more serious, we will robustly pursue all criminal justice outcomes.”
In many cases so far, police say their interventions have led to “education around anti-social behaviour” rather than arrests. But the underlying message is clear: unwanted comments, following, and intimidation will not be tolerated.
PC Abi Hayward, one of the officers who volunteered to take part, said she hopes her work on the campaign makes people stop and think. “It’s not just a small act,” she explained in a police video. “It can make someone feel really quite uncomfortable. I think it’s important that Surrey Police are taking it so seriously.”
Not everyone is on board. The Free Speech Union called the tactic a “bizarre social-psychology experiment” and urged police to stick to “enforcing the law.” But for police, prevention is part of the job. “Our priority is not only to tackle and solve crime but also to prevent it from happening in the first place,” a spokesperson said.
The undercover jogging patrols borrow from methods police already use in nightlife settings, where plainclothes officers watch for predatory behaviour in bars and clubs. Vale said the approach reflects the reality that harassment isn’t limited to certain spaces — it can happen in broad daylight on a quiet road, just as it can in a crowded pub.
For women in Surrey, the campaign may offer something rare: the knowledge that someone might be watching out for them, even if it’s not obvious. And for anyone thinking of harassing a runner, police have a simple warning: that woman could be an officer, and her colleagues may be right behind you.
