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Cops in England Are Struggling to Deal With 'Staggering' Domestic Abuse

A report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary details a 31 percent spike in recorded domestic abuse incidents in England and Wales, causing excessive workloads that make it difficult for police to respond adequately in each case.
Photo by Andy Rain/EPA

Recorded domestic abuse cases in England and Wales jumped by almost a third in the 12 months since March 2014, according to the national police inspectorate, resulting in more than 100 calls for assistance per hour while making up 10 percent of all recorded crimes. The "staggering" rise in reports is threatening to overwhelm police investigative units, it said.

An inquiry published on Tuesday by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) found that recorded cases of domestic abuse had risen 31 percent during this period, and that such cases involving sexual violence had risen by 74 percent.

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In total, police received more than 900,000 calls about domestic abuse, with the crime constituting one in three of all recorded assault-with-injury offenses.

"These figures are shocking — all the more so, because domestic abuse is also estimated to be widely under-reported," the report said, adding that the astonishing incidence of the crime was making it difficult for forces to respond adequately in each case.

"We're particularly concerned that the workload in many specialist investigation units is becoming overwhelming, which is slowing and hindering some investigations," said HM Inspector of Constabulary Zoë Billingham, who led the inspection.

The fact that the number of recorded cases had risen so much could be in large part due to better recording procedures being followed by police forces, it said, as well as victims feeling more encouraged to come forward.

Table via Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary

Perhaps most worryingly, the report highlighted ongoing failures by some forces in identifying repeat callers and victims due to "limitations in their computer systems."

Domestic violence has a higher rate of repeat victimization than any other crime in England and Wales, and repeat victims are typically those at greatest risk.

Around half of all women and one in 14 men murdered in the UK are killed by their partner or ex-partner — amounting to about two women a week and two men a month. (Data from the UK's Office of National Statistics indicates that these female victims are more likely to be killed by someone who is abusing them, while the male victims are more frequently killed by someone they are abusing). Police forces have been found to have failed in many cases to adequately protect murder victims despite being repeatedly asked for help.

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Tuesday's report recognized that law enforcement authorities had made substantial improvements since a previous HMIC inquiry in 2014 that found significant shortcomings in the way police forces across the country responded to domestic violence.

Police are now generally believed to be taking domestic abuse seriously, which the majority of departments were not found to be doing in the 2014 report. Attitudes toward victims — something previously found to be a major problem, with victims frequently reporting that they felt judged and not listened to — had got much better, with officers better understanding the importance of being supportive and sympathetic.

Victims continued to report negative experiences, however, which "resulted in them losing trust and not being willing to report subsequent abuse." Some described officers reacting more positively when they had a visible injury compared to when they didn't.

The report also noted a "patchy" understanding within law enforcement of the dynamics and impact of coercive control, a pattern of intimidating and domineering behavior that is often a key part of an abusive relationship. Coercive control was incorporated into domestic violence legislation and became a crime in the UK last October.

The HMIC survey pointed out a wide variance in arrest, warning, and charging rates across police forces, which it acknowledged was a continuing concern. Arrest rates varied between 43 percent and 93 percent in different parts of the country, it said, when they should be far more consistent.

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Forces also had a "range of different and therefore inconsistent practices" when assessing risk, as well as an "extremely varied" use of the Domestic Violence Protection Order, a new tool introduced in 2014 that allows police to immediately ban an alleged perpetrator from returning to their residence or contacting the plaintiff for 28 days.

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Polly Neate, chief executive of Women's Aid, a national charity for women and children who are victims of abuse, said that this inconsistency undoubtedly endangers lives.

"There is a marked difference between the forces that have officers who are competent and committed in their response to domestic abuse, and those that do not," she remarked. "Victims of domestic abuse should not be part of a police force postcode lottery."

Sisters Uncut, a direct action feminist group, pointed out that while recorded cases of domestic abuse are surging, major cuts are being made to services. Over the last five years, 32 specialist refuges for domestic violence survivors have been shuttered.

Huge surge in domestic violence survivors reporting yet major cuts to services. Services must be funded now. https://t.co/EkBYXW0jpW

— Sisters Uncut (@SistersUncut) December 15, 2015

Refuge, the main national domestic abuse charity in the UK, has seen cuts in government funding across 80 percent of its services since 2011.

"Domestic violence is a matter of life and death," said Sandra Horley, the organization's chief executive. "How many guidelines, how many more reports, how many more inspections, how many more women have to be murdered before domestic violence is treated as the serious crime that it is?"

Follow Miriam Wells on Twitter: @missmbc

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