ACPO comment on the national police response to domestic abuse

ACPO lead on domestic abuse Chief Constable Carmel Napier said:

“On average two women a week and one man every seventeen days are murdered by their current or former partner. This is too high. The police service has committed significant resources and taken action to try to reduce this number as well as protecting people who face abuse of any form at the hands of a partner or family member. This has had a positive impact with a 65 per cent increase in the volume of domestic abuse prosecutions from 2005/6 to 2011/12 and a corresponding 99 per cent increase in the volume of defendants convicted.

“There is more for all agencies to do protect people from this harm; we are analysing our performance and taking on learning to continue to improve.”

National police response to domestic abuse-

“To improve our response to domestic abuse we have invested in specialist officers, trained our officers and call handlers to assess risk, guided officers to conduct comprehensive investigations, worked with local government, health, probation services and the voluntary sector to share information and provide an appropriate multi-agency response. Working with government, police forces have piloted initiatives to protect victims and potential victims, such as the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme and Domestic Violence Prevention Orders. Domestic Homicide Reviews have been developed to ensure that we learn lessons from every tragic death.“

For more information please contact:

ACPO Press Office
Association of Chief Police Officers
e: press.office@acpo.pnn.police.uk