4,600 incidents of domestic violence reported to police in past three years

no simple way of defining any singular cause for any documented reduction.

“If anyone has any concerns or know anyone affected by domestic abuse, Police Scotland can be contacted on 101.”

Mary Miller, of Dundee Women’s Aid (DWA), said despite the police’s numbers, their figures had remained constant over the last three years.

She said: “Dundee has the highest domestic abuse rate per capita in Scotland.

“At DWA we haven’t really seen any improvement in the number of victims we support over the last few years.

“Sadly the demand for our service is as high as it has always been.

“It’s time men changed their abusive behaviour or it’s only a matter of time before they come to the attention of Police Scotland and the criminal justice system.”

The statistics also reveal that a quarter of victims — 1,292 — were male.

Mark Brooks, chairman of ManKind Initiative, said he was concerned that there was not enough services for men who were victims of such crimes.

Mr Brooks added: “What the police figures show is that when it comes to domestic abuse, men are also victims as well as women.

“The key issue is making sure that there are services available for these men to be able to get help and especially from an abusive relationship they are in and even more so when there are children involved from the relationship too.

“It is clear there needs to be more done in Scotland by the Scottish Government and local authorities to make sure there are more services for these victims.

“Our advice to men in abusive relationships is to visit the website for Abused Men in Scotland.

“They have a helpline that can be called and there’s also our helpline which is UK-wide.

“It is i mportant to get the message out there to family members too and we get mothers and sisters often calling us.

“We just have to make it clear that men are also victims of these terrible crimes and we have a duty to provide support for them in the same way there is for women.”