23 January 2008

A Domestic Violence Registry

Domestic violence is 16% of all violent crime, and it has more repeat victims than any other crime (on average there will have been 35 assaults before a victim calls the police).

Brian Moore, chief constable of Wiltshire Police, has urged MPs to give "considerable extra thought" to the idea of creating a domestic violence abuse register.

Moore is concerned about the "thousands of protocols" around information sharing, and a register would help track abusive men and women who move from one relationship to another.

"Each agency may have part of the picture. But it is only when all these pieces of information come together from police, education, social services and from housing authorities that we have the clearest picture of those at risk. The law in this regard is inadequate. The law on information sharing is passive - there is no obligation to share when someone is at risk. We have to act now because year-on-year other people are losing their lives because of this gap in the law."
Here is a list of organisations providing domestic violence services in the West Midlands.

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