Shocking figures reveal 1,200 domestic abuse incidents a month as Northamptonshire Police steps up war on violence against women and girls

Northamptonshire Police has revealed the shocking statistics behind its launching a new strategy to tackle violence against women and girls.

The force deals with an average of around 1,200 domestic abuse incidents EVERY MONTH predominantly involving violence by men.

That’s 40 a day, or one every 100 minutes.

Around 11 men each week across the county are convicted for offences against women in girls.

In the last 12 months alone, the force has seen 615 perpetrators brought to justice

Detective Superintendent Joe Banfield, who heads up the Protecting Vulnerable People command for Northamptonshire Police, insists more will be done.

He said: “We want Northamptonshire to be a place where women and girls can live confidently without feeling frightened, intimidated or harassed.

“The wide spectrum of violence, abuse, and intimidation committed against women and girls is wholly unacceptable and should not be tolerated.

“Our new strategy outlines the action and activity we will focus on to protect women and girls from crimes that disproportionately affect them.

“It is important to call attention to the fact that we cannot do this work alone.

"This is an issue not just for policing but for society as a whole — in parenting, in education and in culture. To get to the root of the problem we need to see a shift in attitudes that normalise this kind of abuse.

"We need to stand together to put a stop to it.”

Women and girls are disproportionately affected by violence and abuse, including rape and sexual offences, domestic abuse, honour-based abuse, and stalking and harassment.

In addition, women and girls are also more likely to be affected by inappropriate contact, catcalling, misogyny, explicit messaging, and unwanted touching which may often not meet criminal thresholds but could be precursors for further offending, adding to women feeling unsafe.

The issue is already identified as a matter of priority for the force and the launch of extra uniformed patrols in town centre hotspots on busy nights.

But the new strategy announced on Wednesday (June 8) seeks to protect domestic abuse victims better and significantly reduce repeat incidents.

In the past 12 months the force has seen a five percent drop in victims.

But Detective Chief Inspector Nickie Deeks, the force lead for tackling violence against women and girls, said: ”We know some women who are sexually assaulted don’t report it because they fear they won’t be believed.

“This definitely isn’t the case. Northamptonshire is joint top out of 43 police forces for accurately recording sexual crimes. Victims can be confident we WILL believe you and do all we can to support you.

“We are already seeing positive outcomes in our pursuit of perpetrators but certainly won’t be taking our foot off the gas. We are determined our detection rates will continue to improve and will use every policing power and tool at our disposal to better safeguard victims.”

■ If you are a victim of domestic abuse or sexual assault, recent or non-recent, please call 101 or report via the Northamptonshire Police website.

If you’re not yet ready to talk to the police, you can get free support and advice at Voice or by calling 0300 303 1965.

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