Hitting Home - A Report on the Police Response to Domestic Violence 1997 STRATEGY AND CO-OPERATION 6.1 Strategic consideration of domestic violence at force level, as recommended in Chapter 5, should take account of regular analysis of collated statistics and information offered by other interested agencies. As in most police activities, the response to domestic violence cannot stand still but must be adjusted to changing circumstances. DESIGNATED STAFF 6.2 This Report has made numerous references to the designated domestic violence staff now operating in five of the eight forces. Although these staff perform similar roles in each of the forces concerned, their distribution varies considerably. Only one force has full-time domestic violence staff in each command area while three of the smaller forces have one full-time police member of staff to cover the whole force area. One of the latter is a member of police support staff (i.e. a civilian rather than a police officer) who undertakes her role with distinction and commitment. In another force, the domestic violence unit is staffed by a police officer and a social worker providing an excellent 'one-stop' service to victims of domestic violence and, at the same time, ensuring that the level of information sharing between the two agencies is probably the best in the country. 6.3 All of the functions necessary for a force to provide a proper response to domestic violence including those recommended by this Report can be carried out without the creation of designated domestic violence staff. However, this Report has also outlined several reasons why designated staff can prove to be the best use of resources to carry out most of the post-investigative procedures. 6.4 The decision on whether or not to deploy designated domestic violence staff is a strategic one, dependent as it is on the true level of incidence, the structure and deployment of operational staff, and the other local demands on police resources. That decision must therefore be left to individual chief constables. Recommendation 11 That those forces which do not already have designated domestic violence staff consider the need for full or part-time specialist officers of this kind in light of the findings and recommendations of this Report. 6.5 Two further issues in this area merit consideration: the use of civilian staff for domestic violence duties; and the allocation of domestic violence responsibilities to staff also engaged in investigation of child abuse and sexual offences. 6.6 The Inspection found that, like their colleagues in female and child units, domestic violence staff were singularly committed people who were dedicated to their responsibilities in both senses of the word. Similarly, because of the concentrated scope of their activities and the very nature of the traumatic situations which both sets of officers face daily, forces were mindful of the need to ensure that individuals do not occupy these posts for more than three or four years. Regular rotation of staff should also serve the same purpose as it does in other police specialisms: the spreading of understanding, knowledge and expertise among 'generalist' officers. 6.7 The 'tenure' factor alone therefore makes it difficult for forces to consider using staff who are not police officers. In the one force where a member of police support staff is employed in this capacity, the strength of character and experience of the present post-holder probably means that the risk of excessive stress is minimised. 6.8 Another factor mitigates against any decision to employ someone who is not a police officer. The question of confidentiality between the victim and police domestic violence staff was raised with a number of these staff during this Inspection. All police officers concerned were clear about the need for the victim to accept that information which the latter offered during contact was information given to the police force. The one non-police officer felt that her role was best fulfilled when the victim was assured that some matters would remain confidential, i.e. not disclosed to police officers. Police forces, with a responsibility to protect all members of the public and enforce the law, cannot afford such leeway. This is perhaps another argument for a non-police agency to become more involved in outreach support to victims of domestic violence. 6.9 The use of police officers already engaged in work with child and women victims of sexual offences to undertake some of the domestic violence functions described may seem attractive to forces considering the recommendations of this Report. No Scottish force currently follows this practice, although a domestic violence worker in one force is a discrete part of a unit, the remaining staff of which also undertake these other functions. This and some other forces occasionally use what are most commonly known as Female and Child Unit officers in the investigation of particularly serious domestic violence crimes. HMIC sees no difficulty in these practices but warns against the use of Female and Child Unit officers for the monitoring, follow-up action and liaison work required of domestic violence staff. A report in 1992 of an inter-agency working party on domestic violence convened by Victim Support in England and Wales argued that such a dual function was invariably detrimental to domestic violence because of the overwhelming pressure of work in child abuse investigations. However, as intimated in Chapter 5 of this Inspection Report, close links need to be maintained to ensure that information is shared. The police response to adult domestic violence must always act as part of the overall response to abuse in all its criminal forms. INCREASING THE POLICE RECORDING RATE 6.10 During Inspection some forces admitted that they were not yet sufficiently confident in their own recording procedures to believe that all incidents of domestic violence were being recorded as such (and therefore not subject to procedures for consideration of further action). Even taking into account different definitions, the variance in incidence of recorded cases shown in Chapter 3 across the forces indicates that some forces are better than others in capturing data. Recording can be tested by dip-sampling across computer or manual logs and domestic violence databases within forces and the Inspectorate suggests that all forces undertake this exercise to ascertain the extent of any deficiency before taking remedial action where necessary. 6.11 Publicity on domestic violence has several purposes. There is a need to make the general public more aware of the prevalence and unacceptability of this relatively 'low visibility' crime. Only in this way will society as a whole accept and support the steps which need to be taken to reduce the crime. This can also influence individual members of the public to support victims in their efforts to end their personal trauma. Secondly, there is a need to convince offenders that they are indeed offenders. Both types of publicity necessarily have to be aimed at the general public, and two high profile campaigns have had success in this respect in recent years. 'Zero Tolerance', which started in Edinburgh and quickly spread to be used by local authorities in most parts of Scotland and now beyond, focuses public attention on all forms of the abuse of power in relationships. The Scottish Office campaign against adult domestic violence was independently evaluated to have reached a remarkably wide audience. The police service must do all it can to continue to support this effort. 6.12 But there is a third need for publicity which may not have to reach quite as wide an audience and might be targeted more simply. This is the need to make victims aware of the service now available to them. The aim must be to convince victims of domestic violence that they need not suffer in silence. The more people who report domestic violence to the police the greater is the opportunity to intervene and have a beneficial effect for those and all victims. 6.13 A few Scottish forces appear to have recognised this need and have taken steps to address it. Forces F and H in particular sought and gained publicity in the local media to advertise extension of their domestic violence staff coverage. Both forces have continued to write personal letters to those victims who do report crimes and to attempt to influence those who haven't yet through posters and leaflets in doctors surgeries, social work departments, casualty departments, women's clinics and libraries. More than 5% of the cases dealt with by domestic violence staff in Force H in 1996 were self-referred directly to those staff (rather than via a police officer who had attended at a reported incident), and another 3% were referred to police by other agencies. This is an indication that publicity is achieving at least that level of response. 6.14 These and other forces also try to ensure that officers providing the initial response to domestic incidents give information about the support and advice services offered by the police and other agencies. Usually this is best achieved by the handing over of a slip of paper or a leaflet with telephone numbers and addresses. Victims may not wish to use this information immediately, but forces and Scottish Women's Aid were able to cite instances to HMIC when victims had used these details to make contact at a much later date. 6.15 In an age which acknowledges the power of the visual image, the police service has produced video publicity for many aspects of crime prevention and law enforcement, latterly extending this to the production of CD ROMs in at least one force. No force has yet produced a video to communicate with target groups which might contain 'unknown victims' (despite the fact that there are a large number of women's organisations who might be willing to arrange showings). This is something which might be achieved by the type of inter-agency approach described below. LIAISON WITH OTHER AGENCIES 6.16 Most police forces in Scotland have heeded the advice of the 1990 Scottish Office Circular that: "...the police can only tackle domestic violence cases in co-operation with a range of other agencies, in particular the Health Service, the Social Work Department, Children's Panels and the voluntary agencies with a particular commitment to helping women in these kinds of difficulties". In many areas inter-agency groups have been set up specifically for the purpose of progressing co-operation in dealing with domestic violence, while in others the issue has been dealt with by groups with a wider remit. Some groups have been instrumental in producing useful publicity material and guidance for victims, some have helped to raise awareness by other means. Where these groups exist, police forces have been represented and contributed to development. 6.17 At the time of this Inspection (late 1996), local government re-organisation had caused something of a hiatus in the progression of many inter-agency groups in a variety of fields, and domestic violence was no exception. There is now some evidence that threads are being picked up again. The Inspectorate is convinced that police forces must continue involvement in this development, and even try to instigate the formation of groups where they have fallen away or do not already exist. Of course the fact that there is now a greater number of unitary councils than there were regional councils may present difficulties in achieving consistent arrangements across police force areas. There would be merit in the formation of inter-agency groups to cover entire force areas, or parts of the larger force areas. Co-operation is obviously beneficial in areas such as emergency accommodation; information sharing between police and social services; provision of information to victims; preventive education in senior schools; awareness training of police, social workers, voluntary sector workers; teachers; and healthcare workers. 6.18 Liaison at local level on a one-to-one basis appeared to be healthy in those forces where designated domestic violence staff are involved and can provide a constant and consistent point of contact, but this does not negate the responsibility of local commanders to nurture and occasionally participate in this linkage. It is particularly pleasing to record the fact that Scottish Women's Aid has noticed a marked improvement in liaison with the majority of forces since 1990. There is much that each organisation can learn from the other and strong links need to be maintained to ensure that the service provided by succeeding generations of both organisations to victims of domestic violence can continue to improve. TRAINING 6.19 It has already been mooted in this Report that some 'general practitioner' constables i.e. those who provide the initial and perhaps the only assistance to victims of domestic violence have, for understandable reasons, an incomplete understanding of the complex factors affecting the situation. The best forces inspected demonstrated that these difficulties were acknowledged frankly, and that that acknowledgement was good reason for constant monitoring of cases; review of procedures; and for maintaining mutual training links with local Women's Aid groups. 6.20 The value of using Women's Aid workers to contribute to the training of police officers, both at probationer level and beyond, cannot be under-estimated. Police trainers can provide technical training on procedures and legislation, but this needs to be supplemented by awareness training which is best delivered by those such as in-force dedicated domestic violence officers or Women's Aid workers who can help to explain some of the complexities of abusive relationships. The advantages of using Women's Aid workers are that their presence:
6.21 The Scottish Police College is properly the means by which those training needs which are common to all forces are met: this is where probationer constables receive initial training on domestic violence, centred on legal aspects and the 1990 Scottish Office Circular. Scottish Women's Aid are now well established providers of training there for supervisory officers and are valued for the quality of their input. Recent training reviews at the College have suggested that a concentration of the target audience towards sergeants would best reflect changing operational roles and therefore domestic violence training for supervisors is now limited to the First Line Managers' Course. Inspectors no longer receive training on this subject as a matter of course although various aspects of domestic violence are included as topics for individual and group research projects. The Chief Inspectors' Course provides students with the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the work of a number of external agencies which work closely with the police through joint workshops. Scottish Women's Aid are included in the pool of agencies invited to participate. 6.22 In-force training, for all policing matters, is designed to supplement and complement that provided by the College. It can be seen from Figure 6.1 that, for probationers, this generally includes the type of awareness training from Women's Aid or domestic violence officers advocated above. Because the need for awareness training is probably just as pertinent to other forms of criminal abuse, there is merit in associating domestic violence training with that for sexual offences and child protection. Figure 6.1 - In-Force training On Domestic Violence
6.23 Figure 6.1 also shows that, in four forces, constables outwith probation also receive some training. It does not show the wide variance in the quantity of training, nor the fact that at the time of Inspection some forces had temporarily suspended post-probationer training for constables in order to keep within budgeted spending. 6.24 Changes in the College delivery of domestic violence training to first-line managers may not yet have been taken into account in all forces: there could be opportunities to reduce in-force training for supervisors in order to concentrate more on the vitally important constable rank. 6.25 The 1990 Scottish Office circular asked that chief constables keep the content and extent of training under review. The findings of this Inspection suggest that most forces would now benefit from such an exercise, to take account of the points made in the preceding paragraphs. Recommendation 12 That forces review the content and extent of in-force training on domestic violence, bearing in mind:
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