Detective Chief Inspector Ali Eaton said: “At Christmas and the New Year generally we have seen a rise in reports of domestic abuse. This may be due to excessive alcohol consumption, people spending more time at home, or financial pressures, but whatever the reason there are no excuses.
“There may be only one chance when people reach out to us, so we aim to ensure that we always put the needs of the victim first, to help people with rebuilding their lives.
“An enormous amount of positive feedback was received by officers engaged in the campaign, which included visits to vulnerable victims.”
Across the county, 28% of domestic abuse was reported by male victims. DCI Eaton added: “One important area of learning which the campaign has highlighted is the need to consider under reported areas of domestic abuse such as male victims, same sex relationships and elder abuse. This year our media campaign focused on male abuse and the force also received positive feedback from the public for our work in this area.”
From 21 December, dedicated police patrols responded to reports of domestic abuse over the Christmas and New Year period, with officers equipped with body-worn video cameras to help secure vital evidence, as part of the force’s year-round campaign to encourage reporting of such incidents.
Feedback also shows that officers are becoming even more skilled and confident in their use of body worn video (BWV) in attending such incidents. It helps to improve evidence gathering especially in obtaining the demeanour and immediate thoughts and feelings of victims and offenders at the time.
BWVs are essential in improving evidence gathering in DA cases with officers as well as criminal justice partners including the CPS as they start to consider more victimless prosecutions using evidence obtained by this equipment.
The county’s Police & Crime Commissioner (PCC) , Katy Bourne, has recently funded additional body worn video devices for Sussex police officers. She said: “I am pleased to see Sussex Police continue this important preventative work to tackle domestic abuse, which remains a key community priority in my Police & Crime Plan.
“The use of body worn video by officers attending domestic abuse incidents is vital to help secure evidence and, ultimately, support prosecutions. I want anyone who is experiencing this appalling crime to have confidence that their report will be taken seriously by the police and that local support is available to them.
“The results of this year’s campaign show that domestic abuse sadly continues to affect many people in Sussex, which is why it requires a year-round commitment – from the police and partners – to prevent this, often hidden, crime from going unreported and to engage with harder to reach groups such as men and the elderly who may also fall victim.”
