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Police to set up domestic violence squads

01 January 1991

Police to set up domestic violence squads
artdoc April=1992

The Home Office has published a circular designed to ensure
that the police give greater priority to investigating cases
of domestic violence, which has previously been dismissed as
not worthy of police time. The circular, agreed with the
Association of Chief Police Officers, summarises the best
practices carried out by some police forces in this field and
suggests that one way forward would be to set up special
police units to deal with domestic violence cases. Other
measures proposed include that victims should be interviewed
by women officers, special databases should be kept on
incidents of domestic violence, and the police should only
rarely attempt reconciliation and give greater priority to
arresting offenders.
Home Office minister John Patten cited evidence from the
United States that arrest, or the threat of it, is a great
deterrent and that `a night or two in the cells' was often the
best immediate solution. On reconciliation, the circular warns
that past attempts by the police to effect a quick
reconciliation were often ill-advised because violent
incidents tend to be part of a series of attacks, and that
`what victims want is the enforcement of the law.'
The circular is seen as part of a process whereby the Home
Office is attempting to change police attitudes toward areas of
crime previously ignored, such as rape, child abuse and racial
attacks. (Independent 1.8.90)

Institute of Race Relations, Police-Media Bulletin, no 63