A Fresh Approach to Policing Domestic Violence

Concerns regarding the police commitment to addressing issues of domestic violence and abuse across England and Wales have endured for over 30 years. The ongoing challenges of establishing domestic violence as core police work were reflected in Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) report 2014, which found examples of poor evidence gathering, the persistence of inappropriate police attitudes and a lack of understanding about the dynamics and impact of domestic violence and abuse. Mandy Burton explores some of the reasons for the police’s poor performance in this area and assesses whether the introduction of new civil powers in the form of Domestic Violence Protection Notices and Orders (DVPN/Os) provides a positive innovation, which will assist in addressing the effectiveness of police responses. The introduction of further ‘preventative’ civil court measures, however, is not without controversy, arguably representing a further step towards the decriminalisation of domestic violence and a retreat back into the private family domain.