UK Police Still Not Sufficiently Trained For Enforcing New Domestic Abuse Laws

0
UK Police Still Not Sufficiently Trained For Enforcing New Domestic Abuse Laws
UK Police Still Not Sufficiently Trained For Enforcing New Domestic Abuse Laws

Despite new domestic laws being passed two years ago in the UK which deemed “coercive or controlling behaviour” as criminal offenses, police forces remain ill-equipped and poorly trained to handle such crimes according to activists and MPs.

According to latest official data, just eight out of the total 43 police units in England and Wales have established a training program. Such poor levels of training has resulted in low percentages of prosecutions for the new offences.

Low Prosecution Numbers  Nationwide

Figures available from a recent freedom of information request filed by the Bureau for Investigative Journalism showed that only 532 charges have been so far brought under the new laws in the 29 police force areas that responded. Six of them have brought five or less charges since the new laws were enacted in 2015.

Data from Office for National Statistics reveals that around 4,246 cases of “coercive or controlling behaviour” for the 12 months ending March 2017. Officially it is estimated that around 1.2 million women and 713,000 men have faced some kind of domestic violence over the past year.

According to a recent University of Gloucestershire report, controlling behaviour was observed in 92% of the 358 domestic murders they had studied.

The definition of “coercive and controlling behaviour” refers to a pattern of acts of assault, humiliation, threats and intimidation among other forms of abuse used to frighten, harm, or punish, their victim.

Controlling behaviour includes a range of acts that seek to make a person subordinate and/or dependent through a variety of means such as isolating them, exploiting their resources or  depriving them of the means needed for independence.

Plaid Cymru MP, Elfyn Llwyd, who had first introduced the bill in February 2014 stated he was frustrated with the poor levels of police forces training, which was reflecting in the low number of prosecutions.

Poor Training Hampering Prosecution

According to Llwyd, it was frustrating that the Westminster government had followed up the bill “very poorly”,  particularly considering the  warnings provided by Plaid Cymru at that time regarding the need for police training. He urged the government to make training on the new offences mandatory and be funded centrally.

Earlier this month, Home Office minister Nick Hurd informed MPs in a Commons written answer that a new College of Policing training program, Domestic Abuse Matters, which covers areas like evidence gathering and understanding of “controlling and coercive behaviour” has been held in eight police forces with plans to roll the program out in two more forces.

He further added that the curriculum relating to domestic abuse as well as coercive control was being added to the national recruit training, and the college has issued authorised professional guidelines related to investigation of domestic violence and abuse  .

Central Training Program Necessary   

As per Llwyd and Plaid Cyrmu’s home affairs spokesperson, Liz Saville Roberts, the Home Office must fund a centrally managed training programme in order for the police to ensure that the forces understand the new law.

Harry Fletcher, the director of the Victims’ Rights campaign, and who was part of the law’s drafting, noted that “training was critical”. He pointed out initially a six-month delay had been suggested so as to ensure training was imparted to the police.

Fletcher expressed concern at the prosecution numbers, calling them “extremely worrying” and  said that that they were “no doubt related to the training failures.”  He added that “a cultural shift” was needed amongst police mangers and first responders, and urged the government to invest in the necessary training .

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here