A fifth of police work linked to domestic abuse

DOMESTIC abuse has risen to account for a fifth of the police’s workload, with two offences committed every minute, official figures show.

Police recorded more than 250,000 offences flagged as domestic abuse-related over April to June, representing the equivalent of 1.5 every minute, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The 259,324 offences represented a rise of 7 per cent from the same period in 2019, and an 18 per cent rise from two years ago.

The sharp increase means d o me s t i c abuse now accounts for a record proportion of the overall crime investigated by police, rising from 16.1 per cent in March to 20.8 per cent in April. It was at similar levels in May, at 20 per cent, and in June, at 18.7 per cent.

The increase was partly explained by a fall in other crimes during lockdown, but there has been a steady increase in domestic abuse as a proportion of the police workload, up from 13 per cent in January 2018.

It has prompted warnings by police chiefs that forces risk being overwhelmed by “hidden crimes”, which include not only domestic abuse but also child sexual abuse and exploitation, and mental ill health, that now account for at least 40 per cent of all offences.

Simon Bailey, the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s lead on child protection, said people were now 10 times more likely to be victims of domestic abuse and child abuse than burglaries or vehicle theft. “The demand for frontline staff now is all around hidden harms, the exploitation of vulnerable people, and crimes of abuse and exploitation,” he said.

“It is our responsibility to deal with an awful lot of that as the first responder, but so much of this has its base in prevention and support, which is with partners.”

Domestic abuse crimes reported to police increased by 9 per cent in a year, even before lockdown, with more than one a minute, the ONS data reveals. The figures show police recorded 758,941 domestic abuse crimes in the year to March 2020 – equivalent to 87 every hour.

The ONS note d t hat between April and June, the national domestic abuse helpline, run by Refuge, was contacted 40,397 times – up 65 per cent from the first three months of the year.