63 domestic abuse cases reported across South Yorkshire per day

A report to Dr Alan Billings, South Yorkshire’s police and crime commissioner, states that 23,054 offences were recorded in 2021 – an increase of three per cent in comparison to 22,382 cases in 2020, and a 10 per cent increase on the 20,930 cases recorded in 2019.

Tim Forber, Deputy Chief Constable, told a meeting of the PCC’s public accountability board meeting that South Yorkshire Police ‘take every single case of domestic abuse seriously’.

He said: “We make sure that we’ve got the right services to support victims and take positive action on every occasion where that’s appropriate to do so.

“And when I say positive action, I talk about arresting the offender, and separating the parties. We make sure that the right commission services are there to support people and we make judicious use of the civil orders that are available to us, and we do that in each and every case.

“Each occasion is really difficult for the victim.

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“There’s quite a lot of research that will say that domestic abuse has happened many,many times before it’s ever reported to the police.

“We instil into our officers…[in] the DA matters training, is every victim of domestic abuse needs to be treated like a repeat – because that’s exactly what they will be.

“It might have happened ten, twelve, fifteen times before they’ve had the courage to call on our services, so we’ve got to make sure our staff are absolutely geared up to that.”

If you have been affected by issued raised n this article, please contact:

Freephone 24-Hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline: 0808 2000 247or visit www.nationaldahelpline.org.uk (access live chat Mon-Fri 3-10pm)

Mankind – freephone 01823 334244