The initiative was inspired by a similar operation in Boston, Massachusetts, and began after a TfL survey revealed that 15% of women who used London's public transport had experienced some form of unwanted sexual behaviour, but that the overwhelming majority of incidents were not reported to the police.
As part of the project, the police created a confidential hotline and text-messaging service and used social media to raise awareness and encourage reporting.
[3][4] The project was launched with the aim of encouraging the reporting of incidents and creating an atmosphere on public transport which does not tolerate sexual harassment.
[3][1] Project Guardian also covers police attempts to deter unwanted sexual behaviour on public transport, including increased patrols by highly visible and plain-clothed officers.
[9] Among the tactics police use to deter and detect sexual offences as part of Project Guardian are "weeks of action", which involve large numbers of additional police officers, both high-visibility and in plain clothes, patrolling the transport network in order to raise awareness, gather intelligence, and detect offences.