The talk given by Supt. Helen Chamberlain last night was so informative and is in line with one of my presidential goals ( to raise awareness about issues surrounding Domestic Abuse) that I have reproduced and included Helen's notes in this blog:
Firstly,
thank you to Ian and the Committee for inviting me here this evening... I think
its huge step forward to be invited into a Rotary club dinner to talk about
this particular subject and highlights the way in which talking about this
issue is becoming more acceptable. I have been asked to come and talk about
domestic abuse with a focus also on abuse of male victims
Before I go
onto talk about domestic abuse, I will just give you a bit of a pen picture
about me and where I have come from.
I joined
the police 24 years ago in South Yorkshire – I joined for the cut and thrust of
policing, to catch the bad guys and yes I accepted that there would be tragedy
and trauma to deal with and I’ve had my fair share of that:-
I was a
very young in service officer working my first big football match on the 15th
April 1989 - Hillsborough, I don’t think I have ever got over the sights,
sounds and tragedy I witnessed that day that still goes on.
I have
dealt with road deaths as a traffic sergeant, picking up a baby’s carry cot on
the M18 in the early hours of a summers day, the family were on their way to
relatives to show off their new baby and all died.
A couple of
examples of the trauma and critical incidents part way I did expect to have to
deal with.
What I
didn’t expect to have to deal with and
it has become more apparent to me in my current role is the insidious crimes
that generally happen behind closed doors, are under reported and cause massive
suffering to families and children and that is domestic abuse, in all its forms
over many years.
As Head of
Public Protection I am responsible for
Rape, DV,
Child Abuse, Sexual exploitation, dangerous people, MFH, Vulnerable adults,
stalking and harassment, female genital mutilation and honour based violence,
that’s all before lunch!
So what is DA - Domestic abuse is
‘Any
incident of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse (psychological, physical,
sexual, financial or emotional) between adults, aged 18 and over, who are or
have been intimate partners or family members, regardless of gender and
sexuality’ (Family members are defined as mother, father, son, daughter,
brother, sister and grandparents, whether directly related, in-laws or
step-family.)
Within
Nottinghamshire we include those at ages of 16 and 17 within the intimate
relationship element, acknowledging the fact that you can leave home, you can
marry at 16 and of the growing number of young people experiencing domestic
violence at that young age is growing as they have probably witnessed it in
their young lives and believe that is the right way to behave in this society.
So how prevalent is it really?
It could be
the person sat next to you or in the next office. Or your mother, your sister,
your friend, your boss, your neighbour or the pregnant woman sat on the bus, or indeed, your father or your brother.
All shapes and sizes. All ages, all ethnic groups, all sexual orientations,
disabled and able bodied people are affected by domestic violence.
Some national facts and figures:
DV
accounts for 18% of violent crime nationally, it costs the tax payer 3.9
billion pounds a year and that’s to the police alone not to other agencies such
as health.
There
are 392,000 incidents reported every year.
2
Women on average are killed by a male partner per week and 7 men are killed
every quarter on average.
There
is a phone call every minute to a UK police force about DA, by the time I
finish this talk there will be potentially …900 .. More victims
1
in 4 women will experience domestic violence in their lifetime
90%
of domestic abuse is seen or heard by children
Women will endure up to
35 instances of abuse/ assault before ringing the police for help.
According to the 2010/11 BCS, seven percent of women
and five percent of men experienced domestic abuse in the last year;
equivalent to an estimated 1.2 million female and 800,000 male victims.
Around six percent of women and four percent of men
experienced partner abuse in the last year, equivalent to around 900,000
female and 600,000 male victims.
Non-physical abuse was the most common type of abuse
experienced by both female and male partner abuse victims.
Around a quarter, 27 percent, of partner
abuse victims suffered a physical injury as a result of the abuse. Among
those who had experienced any physical injury, or other effects, around 28
percent received some sort of medical attention.
- Research indicates that survivors of domestic abuse are 15 times more likely to abuse alcohol and 9 times more likely to abuse drugs than women generally.
Whilst we
know and accept that the majority of victims are female we acknowledge the
growing number of male victims and identify the difficulty that some male
victims have in coming forward
Would they
be believed?
How can it
be true, he is a lot bigger than her?
Why didn’t
he defend himself?
It just
doesn’t happen does it!
All the
same reasons as to why a man perhaps would choose not to report. This reality
is recognised, don’t know if any of you watch the soaps, love them or hate them
they do try and emulate social realities, currently on Coronation street there
is a story line of Tyrone, lovely Tyrone suffering domestic abuse from his
pregnant partner, that story line was advised by a genuine male survivor who
explained how we was isolated from family and friends, that his ex partner
manipulated certain events so he felt as if he couldn’t speak to anyone. Cut
him off from speaking to people except her
Domestic
violence is unacceptable whoever you are, whatever relationship you are in.
In Nottinghamshire
- There are around 19,000 children in Nottinghamshire at risk from domestic abuse, this means that at least 4 in every class of 30 children
- Domestic abuse accounts for around 40% of our violent crime figures.
- There were 11,430 incidents of domestic violence reported in Nottinghamshire last year
There are
services for male victims of domestic violence are provided on the same basis
as those for female victims, thereby ensuring that Nottinghamshire County
Council and its partners are complying with the Public Sector Equality Duty.
However, the
support services for men are provided by different agencies from the support
services for women. This reduces the risk of male victims, who may also the
perpetrators of domestic abuse, coming into contact with other vulnerable
victims. It also allows women’s services to operate in women only buildings
thereby increasing safety for female victims and staff.
Local DV Support Services for men: I
can give details of those if anyone would like them, please speak to me after
the event.
So what’s happening nationally?
The
Government have pledged to put in 40 million pounds of funding to 2014 for
specialist rape and dv services, some of that money will go on the support
available through the independent domestic violence advocates for both men and
women that support the victim through the criminal justice programme.
Some
support around refuge
Around the
care for pets
Some
national projects such as ESTEEM (in Cornwall) for male victims where the Home
Office have given 225,000 to support male victims of DV and to support a men’s
separate advice line to the National DV help line and the Male survivor
recovery programme
Locally you may have heard of the ‘The Man Enough’
Campaign
Started 14th Feb 2012 Valentines
Day
Man
Enough ….to say no to domestic abuse
Aim: To help change the
culture in Nottingham to show that domestic
abuse is no longer acceptable and to bring down violent crime statistics.
Objectives
·
For
10,000 men in Nottinghamshire to sign a Pledge on a Nottingham
page on the White Ribbon Campaign page
·
To
campaign for ‘Clare’s law’ which a supports woman’s right to ask the police if
their partner has a record for domestic abuse. – start pilot in September
·
To
campaign for the implementation of section 60 of the Family Law Act to be
enacted which enables a victimless civil prosecution or a prosecution where the victim has become
reluctant
·
To
organise a family event in Nottingham Market Square in February 2013 to
emphasise the engagement of local people in the campaign
Background
Gedling
Borough Council initiated the campaign with Nottingham Post, Nottinghamshire
Police, Nottinghamshire County Council, Nottingham City Council, Nottingham
Forest Football Club, Women's Aid Integrated Services and Nottinghamshire
Domestic Violence Forum.
The
campaign is also being supported by the Safer Nottinghamshire Board and its
partner agencies.
The
campaign will last a year and the Post will feature stories every month on a
range of related topics. Care will be taken to ensure that all equality aspects
are covered, including violence against men, elders, minority communities, LGBT
communities and disabled people.
The
White Ribbon Campaign organisers have agreed to have a Nottingham page on their
website to enable people to sign a pledge which will say … ‘I pledge never to
commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women’.
Male IDVA for
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire
Domestic Violence Forum (NDVF) 0115 962 3237
Provides
support for HIGH RISK male survivor cases across Nottinghamshire.
All
referrals need to be submitted via the appropriate MARAC Co-ordinator . Contact
Nottinghamshire Police for details.
Victim Support (for men in Notts) 0115 844 6071
Victim Support (for men in Nottingham) 0115 844 5092
(*you can refer to Victim Support without
police involvement)
Victim
Support do not support high risk domestic violence survivors.
Rushcliffe Borough
Council Community Safety Team
Provides advice/support
and access to services for all survivors
0115 914 8287 0777 1690 411
National
Help lines for Male Survivors:
MALE (heterosexual, gay,
bi and transgender) 0808 801 0327
(Part
of the Government funded work by Respect)
Broken Rainbow (LGBT
specialism) 0300
999 5428 (LGBT)
Specialist
Male Refuges:
Gemini Project (regardless of sexuality) 0870 066 4233
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