Plea to ‘ silent victims’ to come forward

Police remain committed towards collaborative efforts to tackle the scourge of domestic abuse.

And they have issued a plea to the ‘ silent victims’ out there to come forward and report their experience to their highly- trained officers.

Chief Inspector Brian Anderson, Area Commander for South Ayrshire, said: “Domestic abuse has devastating effects on individuals, families and children who are often victim of abusive behaviours.

“We are committed to bringing offenders to justice and are continually improving our response.”

A total of 18,500 officers and staff have received online training on domestic abuse to enforce the new

Act which became law in April last year.

A further 7500 have received enhanced face- to- face training and another 6500 officers and staff will follow suit in the coming months.

On a national scale, police attended a staggering 60,000 domestic abuse incidents every year – an average of one every nine minutes.

In South Ayrshire that figure is 1,012 as reported in the Q3 ( third quarter) management information.

Ch Insp

Anderson

( right) added:

“There is much to do to reverse these figures and we will continue in our collaborative approach with our partners and agencies because policing alone cannot reverse them. “No one should live in fear. If you have been the victim of domestic abuse please report it to us.

“If you are afraid of contacting us directly then please make use of third party reporting.

“Ayrshire has many third party participating agencies including local housing associations, colleges and community centres with staff who are fully trained.”

Visit www. scotland. police. uk