Shropshire police 'could do more on domestic abuse'
Police in Shropshire have been praised for their "effective" work in tackling domestic abuse – but warned there are still "several areas of improvement" that officers need to address.
Inspectors said West Mercia Police, which covers Shropshire, had a "low" arrest rate – for every 100 domestic abuse crimes recorded there were 45 arrests in the force area. But police in the county were praised for their work in identifying victims, keeping them safe and managing risk.
It comes as a damning report issued nationally revealed thousands of victims of domestic violence were being failed by police forces across England and Wales due to "alarming and unacceptable weaknesses" in the way cases were investigated.
West Mercia Police was one of the 43 forces to come under the microscope as part of the HM Inspectorate of Constabulary report.
Inspectors were asked to consider how effective police were in tackling domestic abuse, and whether risks to victims were adequately managed.
The report revealed that in the West Mercia force area, domestic abuse accounted for five per cent of all calls to offices for assistance. Of these calls, one in five were from repeat victims and domestic abuse accounted for eight per cent of all recorded crime.
Figures showed that from August 2012 to August last year the force recorded 5,774 assaults with injury – a third of which were domestic abuse related.
HM Inspector of Constabulary for the Wales and Western Region, Dru Sharpling, said: "HMIC found some effective work by West Mercia Police to tackle domestic abuse.
"However there are several areas for improvement the force needs to address before there can be confidence that victims of domestic abuse are provided with a consistent standard of service and that risks to victims are minimised.
"The alliance with Warwickshire and ongoing work should provide greater clarity to staff about what is required of them and their role in protecting the victims of domestic abuse from harm."
In the damning report, inspectors said only eight out of the 43 forces responded well to domestic abuse and the most vulnerable victims faced a "lottery" in the way their complaints were handled.
