Love Island star joins forces with Thames Valley Police for women’s safety campaign
Former Love Island star Sharon Gaffka has teamed up with Thames Valley Police to raise awareness of the force’s work to tackle violence against women and girls.
The 26-year-old rose to prominence on the seventh series of the hit dating show ITV2 last year and has since used her public platform to campaign for women’s safety.
Gaffka has partnered with Thames Valley Police to create content behind the scenes of the force to give the public insight into how they respond to sexual assaults and rapes and to raise awareness of how to report abuse. such crimes to the police.
love island star @SharonNJGaffka works with Thames Valley Police as part of their ongoing efforts to make women and girls feel safe.
Sharon talks about how working with the police helps her understand how to rebuild trust between the police and young women. pic.twitter.com/MLh8t1pGoo
— Hello Great Britain (@GMB) August 19, 2022
The partnership is aimed at young people who may be less inclined to engage with the police
Speaking about the project on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Gaffka said: “90% of my subscribers are mostly young women, and I’m also part of that group of women who have a very turbulent relationship with the police and sometimes have hard to trust the police, especially with stories we’ve seen lately.
“So for me it’s a learning curve to understand a little bit more about what the police can do and how to potentially rebuild that trust between the police and the young women.
“And also, I’ve found that with other campaigns and other work that I’ve done, a lot of young women are very open with me with a lot of things that they wouldn’t be with someone else. ‘other.
“So for me, it’s about trying to close that gap and learning on my own.”
Chief Superintendent Katy Barrow-Grint, who appeared alongside Gaffka on the show, said: ‘We wanted to work with Sharon because we felt it was a unique opportunity for us in Thames Valley to reach an audience younger.
“Sharon works very well with young people and you probably know that the police sometimes find it difficult to talk to young women and girls and we want to work with Sharon to encourage women and girls who are victims of sexual violence to report their concerns. ”
Earlier this year, Gaffka endorsed the Stamp Out Spiking campaign and spoke publicly about her doping experience, which led to her being found unconscious in a toilet cubicle in 2020.
The reality star has encouraged better doping education and told Good Morning Britain at the time: ‘I was a victim of being portrayed as being too drunk instead of doped… I always advocating for better education on the subject of doping because there are great things on the market that can turn people off, especially with lids on drinks.
“I’m afraid they’re just moving to another method of doping so it doesn’t just become drink doping, and we’re seeing that more with injection doping.
“I think I’m going the educational route to show people what peak symptoms look like.”
Good Morning Britain airs every weekday morning on ITV.
