Police ‘ill-equipped’ to tackle domestic abuse

POLICE are “poorly trained and ill-equipped” to properly enforce new laws targeting domestic abuse as it emerged that some forces have brought just a handful of charges in the last two years.

Figures obtained through Freedom of Information requests show that six police forces in England and Wales laid only five charges or fewer since it became a criminal offence to abuse a partner with “coercive or controlling behaviour”. Of the 29 forces that responded, only 532 charges using the law were made. The law, introduced two years ago today, was hailed by Theresa May as “life-saving” as she promised to stop domestic abuse continuing to be a “scourge on our society”.

Campaigners and politicians fear that as few as eight forces have signed up to have their officers trained in how best to apply the law. It is hoped that if “psychologically violent” partners are targeted by police, the two-aweek murder rate of women at the hands of male partners could begin to fall.