Workers could join the war on domestic violence

Members of the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee heard that in Kirklees in 2017/18 there were 9,649 incidents and crimes reported with a victim repeat rate of 45.5% and a suspect repeat rate of 32.7%. In addition a child was present at more than a quarter of all police call outs relating to domestic abuse.

An officers’ report found that the Kirklees “victim profile” was likely to be a white female aged between 20 and 29, whilst the “suspect profile” was likely to be a white male between 20 and 29.

However Labour councillor Gulfam Asif (Dewsbury South) expressed concern that a national “snapshot” did not reflect local issues and that within ethnic minority communities under-reporting of abuse remains a problem.

“I can tell you from my experience over the years that there are so many complex issues, and not just [in] the white community. It’s different ethnic minorities. What we’ve seen and I’ve certainly experienced that - from the different minority groups that have migrated in in the last 10 years is that they don’t report it.

“One of the biggest issues we have as a collective is that when somebody is abused, being a male or a female or whatever ethnic group they fit into, they don’t want to take it further.

“The data has to be reflective of what we know. We need to get that local picture to see exactly where we stand. It’s not just about collecting data. It’s about being preventative.”

Kirklees’ head of service for safeguarding and quality, Saf Bhuta, agreed that “significant” under-reporting existed and that figures did not fully represent the extent of domestic abuse.

He said LGBT groups were also impacted and that Batley and Dewsbury showed more evidence of domestic abuse than other areas of the borough.