A pilot designed to improve support for victims of domestic abuse is to be trialled in the control room of five police forces across the UK. Louise Barwood explains the development and looks at the need for radical change.
This new pilot, which will see domestic abuse specialists embedded into control rooms is a bid to “overhaul” emergency responses surrounding domestic abuse by the police.
The five police forces will be West Midlands, Northumbria, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Humberside forces.
The need for this pilot, known as Raneem’s Law, arose due to numerous calls to police reporting domestic abuse incidents which led to the murder of Raneem Oudeh and her mother Khaola Saleem. Both were killed after numerous reports to the police even on the day of the murders.
The Home Secretary Yvette Cooper states that the people who will be added to the control rooms will be independent domestic abuse specialists who come from women’s aid charities.
Due to previous mistakes and missed opportunities by West Midlands Police force, The Home Secretary, raised a concern and the need for an overhaul in the area of domestic abuse.
Previous failings
As mentioned above, Raneem called the police four times on the day of the murders and the police had not appropriately responded to previous call outs linked to domestic abuse raised by Raneem, for which five officers have been disciplined over failing to protect the women.
Over the years that domestic abuse has been highlighted within police failings and how the courts can support victims of domestic abuse, sadly it would seem that lessons have not always been learnt from past failings.
This pilot scheme will be welcomed by many who are currently suffering from domestic abuse to be able to speak specifically to a specialist if making a 999 call. It will also be of some comfort to those who have already lost people they love to these incidents, albeit too late in their eyes.
The benefit of this pilot scheme will be that many forces will have special training around domestic abuse and will learn how to recognise the signs and deal with the calls appropriately, as well as promising specialised support services. It is hoped that the pilot scheme will be rolled out across all 43 police forces across England and Wales in due course.
Prevention must still be considered
Although this is a step in the right direction for protecting those in domestic abuse situations, surely more should be done to prevent the situation happening in the first place, such as better education and looking at societal and environmental factors. There is only so much support and emergency services can do to support those in danger, however they could become over run as quickly as the pilot scheme starts, it would therefore be more beneficial to look to be proactive rather than reactive to the problem.
The government has confirmed there will be £2.2m made available to fund the first stages of Raneem’s Law over the next financial year.
Read more about this story here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg1l5v5d52o