Police case figures are ‘the tip of the iceberg’

South Bucks: Dash Charity warns majority of domestic abuse goes unreported

A charity has warned that reports of domestic abuse are just ‘the tip of the iceberg’ in response to Thames Valley Police (TVP) data on recorded cases in South Bucks.

TVP recorded a small drop in reported domestic abuse cases in the area across a sixmonth time period in 2021, compared to the same period in 2020.

But the 2020 period covered the entirety of the first COVID-19 lockdown – a time when domestic abuse charities such as The Dash Charity saw an ‘escalation of abuse’.

A Freedom of Information request (FOI) revealed that, between March 26, 2020 and October 1, 2020, the force received

795 reports of domestic abuse.

During the same timeperiod in 2021, the number reduced slightly by 27 to 768 reports.

Commenting on the figures, Caron Kipping, grants writer/trainer at The Dash Charity, said: “I think they are reasonable but that is the tip of the iceberg as research shows only about 30 per cent of domestic abuse is reported to police.”

She added: “We definitely noticed (as did many other domestic abuse services across the UK) a significant increase in domestic abuse in 2020.

“Since May 2020 we have received twice as many referrals for adults and referrals for children/young people have tripled.

“The pandemic triggered an increase in escalation of abuse when controlling behaviour had already been present.

“Many people were locked down with their abuser, with no escape, they were incredibly isolated, children were home schooling and experiencing more incidents at home and financial pressures of the pandemic were also a factor.”

TVP said that the figures presented are ‘only marginally higher from 2020 to 2021’ and there will be a host of reasons for this, including victim confidence, crime recording, people holidaying at home during the COVID-19 pandemic and the pressures of COVID-19 restrictions.

Superintendent Kelly Gardner, TVP’s lead for domestic abuse and stalking, said: “The continued pressures brought about by the pandemic may further exacerbate the impact on those already at risk.

“It is important to add that it is not the events themselves that cause the abuse; rather it is the perpetrators that choose to exert more power or control over victims.”