Agenda item

Members to receive a report providing information around domestic abuse and related alcohol use.

The Police and Crime Panel considered a report providing an update on domestic abuse and analysis on alcohol related domestic abuse.

The Acting Chief Executive Officer (OPCC) introduced the report and reminded the panel of the presentation given to the December 2021 meeting which also looked at the correlation between domestic abuse offences and the use of alcohol in those offences.

The Panel were reminded of the levels of domestic abuse reports occurring during covid lockdowns which had been reviewed and exceptions to the data noted. It was noted that levels of domestic abuse reports had remained at a higher level since March 2021 with currently a 6.5% increase for the last 12 months compared to the previous year.

The force had undertaken a review of the response to domestic abuse and were in the process of implementing several agreed recommendations which included increasing resources within the Domestic Abuse Investigation Unit, improving use of data to identify escalating risk in domestic abuse cases and repeat cases and where appropriate video calls to improve response time to victims.

Data was presented which compared figures regarding domestic abuse and the percentage of alcohol related offences. The Panel were informed that changes to crime recording processes had affected the overall numbers as for example there was now a requirement to record separately any domestic related stalking offence in addition to the primary offence.

A breakdown of the victim and offender profiles from demographic data was given, and it was noted that the victim profile was predominantly female with 73% of all victims being female whilst the majority of perpetrators against females were ex-partners as opposed to current partners. In terms of both male and female victims 75% of offenders were male and where the victim was male 35% of offenders were male and 65% female.

In terms of alcohol related domestic abuse it was noted that the crime data recorded by Leicestershire police indicated a low level of alcohol misuse as a contributory factor in 22% of cases. This was found to be below the national level, which showed between 27 and 40% of perpetrators being under the influence of alcohol. Further analysis of the data in trend charts did however show a continued upward trajectory of alcohol related domestic abuse.

Details of temporal analysis modelling the volumes of behaviour by days of the week over time were considered and it was noted that the time in which the majority of alcohol related domestic abuse incidents took place was over the weekend between 2200hrs and 0100hrs.

The Panel welcomed the report which they found to be concise and informative, and the ensuing discussion included the following comments:

The report underpinned previous concerns raised that there was principally a rise in domestic abuse offending during Covid lockdowns in 2020 and a further concern at that time was once there was a return from restrictions whether there would be seen a cause and effect linked to those lockdowns however the data showed the trajectory of this type of offending was still upward. The Panel remained concerned that the increase seen over lockdown periods had not declined and that there was a continued upward trajectory.

In terms of the data provided around the profile of perpetrators it was noted perpetrators were most likely to be ex-partners rather than current partners and it was suggested there might still be some work around causal link to be identified in that regard.

The Panel were pleased to see matters being taken forward with the force and the training around Trilogy of Risk given to officers as well as the joined working with other agencies.

The work of the Violence Reduction Network (VRN) was recognised, and it was suggested some thought be given to spreading the work of the VRN wider with other partners rather than working in silos. It was noted that the PCC sat on the Health & Wellbeing Board and could perhaps use that link to take that further with other partners.

The Panel were interested to know whether any hotspot areas could be identified through the data and what work was being done to join up with Community Safety Partnership’s in terms of awareness and prevention.

The Chair was keen to ensure that there was a wider awareness that domestic abuse  was not just in relationships and covered a whole range of abuse within the home and different relationships within the family.

The Chair thanked officers for the report noting it raised some further questions which the Panel were keen to explore, and it was requested that regular updates be brought to future meetings.

RESOLVED:

1.    That the contents of the report be noted,

2.    That an update report be provided to a future meeting to be scheduled through the work programme.