More than 100 Warwickshire Police officers take part in domestic violence training

Statistics show that one in four women and one in six men will be a victim of domestic violence and abuse in their lifetime and during the last six months more than 2,500 incidents of domestic violence and abuse were reported to Warwickshire Police.

The training was provided by Stonham.

Detective Superintendent Steve Eccleston, Head of Protecting Vulnerable People at Warwickshire Police and West Mercia Police, said: “Domestic violence and abuse is a traumatic and often hidden crime and it can take a great deal of courage for someone to accept that a relationship is an abusive one.

“Training for officers and staff in how to spot the signs of domestic violence and abuse has vastly improved and we are very grateful to Stonham for providing the recent training sessions to frontline officers.

“National research indicates that fewer than one in four victims will ever tell the police about their ordeal and those who do report to the police only make contact after they have been assaulted or abused 35 times, the training from Stonham offered an insight into the work they do with victims and survivors on a daily basis.”

Warwickshire Police and Crimes Commissioner Ron Ball has made tackling domestic violence and abuse one of the key priorities in the county’s Police and Crime Plan.

He said: “I’m keen that we do all we can to tackle domestic violence and abuse and I have allocated significant resources to make sure that victims get support and advice from a wide range of agencies.

“We know that victims of abusive relationships are often reluctant to speak out or to even acknowledge that anything is wrong and it remains a hidden crime in many cases. Training such as this is vital to ensure that police officers and staff can spot the tell-tale signs of an abusive relationship and be best placed to offer help and support to keep victims safe and bring offenders to justice.”

Domestic abuse can take many forms including physical violence, bullying, threatening, sexual abuse and financial control.