Domestic abuse a priority for new police chief

A new chief constable says tackling issues raised in a critical report, including how domestic abuse cases are handled, is his priority.

A police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy (PEEL) report found Suffolk Constabulary had not made progress in how it managed levels of risk in domestic abuse cases.

Mark Webster has come out of retirement to temporarily lead the force until a permanent appointment is made next year.

He said the PEEL report would provide a "baseline" for priorities going forward and he would look to "make the good stuff even better and actually deal with the issues that are unresolved in there."

The PEEL report raised concerns about how the constabulary was keeping victims of domestic abuse safe. It said: "The constabulary doesn't make prompt safeguarding risk assessment and information disclosures."

Katherine Ahluwalia, of domestic abuse charity Restore Women's Aid in Bury St Edmunds, trains police staff on domestic abuse.

She explained that when the charity risk assesses victims, they usually spend an hour with them in a calm environment, whereas when officers first attend a call out, "it's an emergency situation, adrenaline is high."

She suggested secondary risk assessments should be done "once things have calmed down".

The report also found that high risk cases had a high rate of being downgraded which it found "concerning".

According to Ahluwalia, that can mean delays getting victims on the correct pathway for care.

Webster, who became chief constable this week, said he would be working to understand the challenges facing the force.

"I need to understand the level of demand, the level of resource and are we being busy on the right things?" he said.

Webster previously led Cleveland police and joined Suffolk Police after no "substantive" candidate was found.

Tim Passmore, Suffolk's Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner, said the attitude to domestic abuse risk was not where it needed to be and that it was "disappointing" that when victims had repeatedly called police, their cases were not flagged as higher risk.

He said a backlog in Clare's Law applications, where people can find out information about their partner, had been eliminated.

"We will make sure that never happens again," he added.

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