Over 23,000 domestic abuse incidents reported to schools in just three years

PSNI and vice-principal hail scheme linking police with specialist teachers

POLICE have notified schools of more than 23,000 domestic abuse incidents since the launch of a new initiative.

Operation Encompass was officially rolled out to all educational settings following a pilot scheme in Downpatrick in 2021.

Detective Chief Superintendent Lindsay Fisher, from the PSNI’S Public Protection Branch, said the serve allowed the police to share information with schools within 24 hours of a domestic abuse incident.

She added: “(After attending a report), the police get information about all children of school age and share that with a designated teacher in a school.

“It provides an opportunity for the staff to check in on that child, to make sure they’re okay and understand if they’re feeling a bit unsettled or if they haven’t got everything that they need for the school day.”

Since the start of the 2021 school year, which coincided with the launch of the pilot scheme, the police have received an average of 2,750 domestic abuse report a month.

This resulted in the police making 23,448 referrals to designated teachers over the last three years, or 740 a month.

DCI Fisher explained: “We respond to an incident of domestic abuse, on average, every 17 minutes, and children are often present.

“The effects on children who are exposed to abuse cannot be under estimated. We see firsthand every day the impact of the trauma children experience from seeing, overhearing or coming back into a house where there has been domestic abuse.”

DCI Fisher said while rolling the scheme out had been a “huge” job, she believed it was having a positive impact.

She stressed that making the service as efficient as possible was a priority, with the PSNI looking into automating reporting and expanding the scheme to non-education settings.

There were more than 33,000 domestic abuse incidents in Northern Ireland last year, many with children present.

While the police and courts have been criticised for the low prosecution rate in such cases, DCI Fisher pointed to “victim attrition” — where people choose not to engage with investigations — as another explanation.

“Part of that is the fear of what the perpetrator has put them through, but there is also a fear of the court process itself,” she said.

“It is daunting for people that haven’t been involved in it and don’t understand it, but we work very closely with the Public Prosecution Service and other agencies to make sure that we support victims as much as we can.”

She also praised new legislation introduced over the past 24 months as having had an impact on the numbers.

Dunluce School in Bushmills joined Operation Encompass in February last year. Since then a number of children have received support.

Vice-principal and safeguarding officer Darren Parker said the scheme had been “really useful because it is providing us with information we previously wouldn’t have had”.

He added: “After a report from the police), you might not do anything with that information, but you’re watching to see if that young person is presenting as normal, that they’re not anxious or worried or upset.

“A lot of the time it is just a watching brief to make sure they’re having a safe and sensible school day.

“Previously, if you didn’t have that information and the pupil came in annoyed or anxious, you wouldn’t know why and you might be prying when they don’t want to share that information.

“This allows you to support [pupils] from a distance, without making them feel uncomfortable.”

‘It is providing us with information that we previously wouldn’t have had