The BBC joined a Friday night police patrol in Northampton aimed at cracking down on violence against women.
Home Office data shows the number of sexual offences against a female rose in Northamptonshire to 1,866 in the year to March, the highest figure since recording methods changed in 2012.
Of those offences, 4.5% resulted in someone being charged, a fall from 8.5% the year earlier. Nationally, 2.9% of sexual offences resulted in someone being charged in the year 2021/22 after four years of steady decline.