Force changes its system for Claire’s Law

POLICE chiefs have defended their response to requests from people concerned about their partner’s potentially violent past.

Clare’s Law, which allows those in fear of domestic violence to ask police for information, was introduced in 2014 after Clare Wood was killed in Salford by her violent partner.

Home Office figures for 2016/17, analysed by the Bureau for Investigative Journalism, identified Northumbria Police as one of the worst performing forces for their rate of disclosures. Data showed Northumbria received 273 requests for information over that period, of which 25 had been granted – a rate of 9%.

But the force has said it “regularly” discloses information to those considered ‘at risk’ from a partner who has a history of violence, and has now changed the way it records data to reflect this.

Northumbria Police says in cases where it did not divulge information, it may have been that it did not hold the information or the recipient “did not wish” to hear it.

Chief Supt Scott Hall, head of safeguarding, said: “Our systems are now more in line with national recording mechanisms, giving a more accurate percentage of disclosures.”