Police lack training to spot coercive control

Less than per cent of incidents result in arrest, as ‘heinous crime is so little understood’, warns charity

‘The police don’t understand how to look for evidence, how to ask the right questions, and they are often very convinced by the [offender]’

‘Judges do not understand it, they misinterpret it and there is a lot of concern about the sort of lenient sentences handed down’

POLICE still lack the fundamental training needed to spot cases of coercive control, a leading charity has warned, as figures reveal less than 4 per cent of reported offences result in a perpetrator being charged.

Around 30,000 victims go to the police each year to report emotional abuse, threats, humiliation and intimidation at the hands of their partner.

But between April 2020 and September 2021, of the 50,338 coercive control offences recorded only 1,717 people were charged – representing just 3.4 per cent. Figures published by the Crime Survey of England and Wales suggest the number of those suffering who do not report could be as high as 1.5 million, meaning as few as 0.1 per cent of victims are ever likely to get justice.

Farah Nazeer, the chief executive of Women’s Aid, one of the charities that campaigned for coercive control to be added to the statute books six years ago, said part of the reason figures were so low was that there was a “fundamental lack of training” for police officers.

Coercive control involves emotional and physical abuse, with the victim often being told what to wear, who they can see and even how to spend their money. It can escalate into physical attacks and domestic violence and in extreme cases has resulted in homicide.

But coercive control can be a notoriously difficult crime for outsiders to spot, with perpetrators often skilled at masking their offending. A storyline in The Archers on Radio 4, featuring Helen and Rob Titchener, helped raise awareness of the crime and encouraged more victims to seek help, but it is still regarded as a largely hidden offence.

Along with the College of Policing, three leading charities have designed a training package to help police officers better identify cases of coercive control and domestic abuse.

But so far only two thirds of police forces in England and Wales have signed up to send their officers on the course. Ms Nazeer said prosecution rates would only begin to improve if police officers were trained properly to spot the signs.

She said: “The figures around the number of prosecutions are shocking and disappointing and there are lots of reasons. There are lots of good hardworking committed police out there, but at large the police don’t really understand coercive control.

“They don’t understand how to look for evidence, how to ask the right questions and they are often very convinced by the perpetrator. Unless they have had the rigours of training to understand domestic abuse and coercive control, they can draw the wrong conclusions from the way something initially presents.”

Ms Nazeer said there were also problems in the criminal justice system that meant lots of cases were dropped before they got to court. She said even when a perpetrator was convicted, they often received lenient sentences. “We are aware that judges are not trained in domestic abuse orviolence Against women and girls. They misunderstand it, they misinterpret it and there is a lot of concern about the sort of lenient sentences being handed down.

“A third of police forces have still not signed up to undergo training with the Domestic Abuse Matters programme which is very disappointing especially when you consider that when officers complete the course there is a 41 per cent increase in arrests for these crimes.”