Report Summary
This report provides members of the Scottish Police Authority Policing Performance Committee with an update on the Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy.
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Meeting
The publication discussed was referenced in the meeting below
Policing Performance Committee - 18 September 2024
Date : 18 September 2024
Location : online
Domestic Abuse
We are making strong progress against the recommendations made in the HMICS thematic inspection of domestic abuse (published 2023). We have discharged two key recommendations relating to enhancing our response to domestic abuse at first point of contact, with training developed and delivered to police control room officers and staff. The introduction of a new crime recording system (UNIFI) and updates to existing systems (iVPD) are allowing us to progress efficiently towards greater national consistency on how victim safety planning is delivered and recorded and how perpetrators are managed.
We acknowledge that the impact of Covid-19 on police training means that a generation of frontline officers has not been provided with essential Domestic Abuse Matters training. Funding has been approved for additional training to be delivered by the end of March 2025. In consultation with SafeLives, six new domestic abuse CPD modules have been developed and published for officers to complete. These focus on DASA, Multi-agency working, Cybercrime, South Asian Women, Children and Trauma. All CPD modules are shaped and underpinned by the lived experiences of victim survivors of domestic abuse.
We have launched a Victim Survivor Feedback portal on our website to capture experiences of people engaging with the police when domestic or sexual abuse has been perpetrated against them. We promote this locally and nationally through our partners to enhance learning and understand where we can improve.
We have worked alongside Hemat Gryffe Women’s Aid to develop and deliver an animated video, which aims to provide support to female migrants who may not be aware they are immediately protected by law from abuse and exploitation as soon as they enter Scotland. This video has been launched and translated into six languages. Work is ongoing to develop a follow up video.
We convene a quarterly national domestic abuse forum with senior detective officers and representatives from our key partner agencies whereby best practice, operational challenges, legal and thematic developments are discussed. This provides a regular route for partner agencies to feedback on our service delivery at senior levels in the police.
