Minister commits to tackling domestic violence

Wednesday 03 December 2014

A major crackdown on domestic violence is planned over the next three years, after the new Home Affairs Minister Kristina Moore put the issue at the top of her agenda.

Police attended 66 serious domestic assaults last year, and attended 1,114 domestic incidents, which works out at just over three every day.

The number of serious domestic assaults was higher than it had been over the two previous years, bucking the trend of a major overall reduction in crime that has seen recorded crime drop by a third in five years.

Deputy Moore said that the issue was at the heart of her plans for the next three and a half years.

She said: “It is a really important issue. We have seen a massive increase in reported incidents and 16% of our reported crimes are domestic violence issues, which is twice the UK rate. We have a lower crime rate than the UK does, but it’s still a very significant figure and it has to be taken very seriously.

“We hope that the high figure is down to people feeling more able to report the crime and more confident about that, but we have got to get back to where the crime occurs, and change peoples’ perceptions about what is and is not acceptable behaviour – just as, for example, the police did in the 1980s with drink driving.”

Deputy Moore says the plan was to tackle domestic violence on a number of fronts, particularly publicity and education. She praised the success of Domestic Violence Week, and highlighted the importance of tackling domestic abuse as well as domestic violence, and considering the impact on children who grow up in homes where domestic abuse or violence is considered normal.