To think that at times the attitude of Police and CPS re domestic violence is despicable?

[Scarletohello]

Ok without wishing to rehash the events of last night I just have to say this...

A woman who has been threaded by her partner with a hammer.

Police tell her she ' reaps what she sows' because she was intimidated into dropping charges on a previous assault.

Charges are dropped by CPS as they have determined she will ' not make a credible witness'

Alleged perpetrator is then free to go, leaving victim terrified, hence the events of last night....

Since 2 women every week are killed by a current/ former partner, and there have been many cases where a woman has repeatedly asked for help and not been taken seriously, that it is time that the criminal justice agencies were properly trained in domestic violence awareness, understood the real risks women faced, and made decisions with regard to the safety of the fucking victim..?!

That's true, if there is other evidence, often there isn't.

They can be terrible sometimes, just depends on the officers you get I guess.

I once called them out to a domestic where I'd been assaulted while holding my baby. 2 male officers arrived. They walked in through the smashed up house, to me crying and holding dc and told me 'we know what it's like when you have a new baby, everyone is a bit stressed' as though it was a normal situation and not anything to make a fuss about.

Really wish I'd complained about them looking back on it now.

Mandatory, so sorry that happened to you, just shows a complete lack of awareness on behalf of the police. I hope you are safe and well now.

Yanbu, when I was raped by my xh I was told "well he is technically still your husband". Needless to say I didn't press charges. Massive regrets there.

I worked for the CPS for many years and the don't take the decision to drop such a case lightly

I'm fine thank you, it was a while ago now.

It's stupid though because I know that pregnancy and babies increase the risk of domestic abuse and you'd have hoped the police would also be aware of that. There was obviously a gap somewhere in the training those officers - which is what I should have complained about.

It was really pretty patronising the attitude they had, they obviously thought I was a silly hormonal new Mum and were very dismissive of me.

YANBU. I was assaulted by my ex. Called the police and was told it was my word against his. He was arrested and questioned, and he made up a pack of lies.

He assaulted me again a few months later with consequences that weren't immediately apparent. I didn't even bother phoning the police the second time - I didn't want to be told the exact same thing. The fall-out was horrific (very few people know about this).

I would never trust them to do anything again (not the first or last time I had dealings with the police with regards to my ex and other family member). The next offer I get to get it 'sorted out' I will take. I didn't take the first offer because I didn't want the person offering to sort it out to get themselves in trouble. Unfortunately, now I feel it may be the only way to get some kind of justice. Which is very sad. I wish it was different.

2 tired, I'm sure they don't. But do they have any tra

Bugger!

Do they have any training around the complex issues re dv victims?

YANBU, sadly. Speaking as a survivor of DV, I could tell of a few personal experiences whereby I haven't been taken seriously or treated well by the police. This is why I find it incredibly frustrating when people say "oh, just ring 999" - as if that's some magic solution. It's really not.

I'm so sorry to hear of these bad experiences.

They have been very good to me.

On the first incident I didn't turn up to court so it was all dropped.
There was a second incident where I called the police, I told them I'm so embarrassed to call you because I didn't go ahead last time but they were so nice. They still decided to go ahead with very little evidence - my word against his. (He was found guilty, incidentally).

Maybe I it depends on the individual officers?

Fortunately I have had very supportive ones.

Training in dealing eith domestic violence is compulsory, in the past 5-10 years it became apparent that DV cases werent being treated as the priority they so clearly were and now these cases are monitored and a prosecutor cant simply 'drop the case' unless they are satisfied it really wouldnt stand up in court

From experience I can confirm that the CPS don't drop cases for fun, but there has to be a realistic prospect of conviction for a case to proceed.

CPS areas should have at least one DV expert who receives specialist training and police advice files which come into the area pre-charge for a decision to be made as to whether or not to prosecute will normally be allocated to the DV specialist.

What do you want the CPS to do if the victim is not a credible witness and there is no supporting evidence? Taking the case to court would simply result in an acquittal which won't help anyone and may make the victim's situation even worse.

I think police in these situations are bound to find it difficult and it is natural that they will desensitize to an extent. There is only so much they can do for someone who doesn't want to be helped.

If experience tells them that they aren't going to get a conviction, then I can understand why they wouldn't want to waste their time.

Yanbu to think that not enough is being done for the victims of domestic violence. Yanbu at all.

I think there's a general lack of awareness on DV and how to deal with it.

I haven't been a victim myself, however I have witnessed it. The police get called, an arrest is made, no charges are brought or victim refuses to press charges etc, the perpetrator is released and the cycle continues. There needs to be more support for victims.

The uk has a positive prosecution policy with regard to DV. This means that unless its bloody obvious no conviction will happen it will go ahead with or without victim cooperation.

No victim can 'drop' the charges as our system no longer works like that and it has not for years.

Yes police officers make mistakes and some are rubbish but most are not, calling 999 is the most sensible option you have if your experiencing DV

And they do have training in DV

It's interesting you say that sock in my case the perpetrator has got away with it for the past 15 years and continues to do so. Not a single arrest either.

Lamu, assuming there is no serious issue with regard to who he is that is causing cover ups there are many steps you can take when violence has occurred to force action.

Are we talking 15 years worth of actual physical violence with police being called?

Lamu, that is unusual. Obviously many people can come to this thread with a negative story but generally the way domestic incidents are dealt with have improved immensely over the years.

Most forces have a zero tolerance and certainly in my force you have to justify not arresting them, not the other way round.

Someone mentioned lack of support after the police have been involved. That doesn't necessarily need to be the police, there are other agencies that can assist. There is a limit to what the police can do.

At the CPS I dealt with thousands of DV cases and they were all taken very seriously and allocated to a specialist lawyer, it was extremely frustrating but understandable that a huge percentage didn't go ahead due to the unwillingness of the victim. When a case was strong enough to proceed despite the victims reluctance then they would be summonsed but that is a situation everyone wants to avoid

BBC article on this months initiative on domestic violence. Some 300 arrests this month. Not all police forces are shoddy.