‘Your call could help an abuse victim or even save their life’

Mar 13 2008 by Andrew Hirst, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

DOMESTIC violence can now be reported to the police through Crimestoppers.

The crime-fighting charity wants to hear from people across West Yorkshire who suspect that a relative, friend, neighbour or work colleague is suffering domestic abuse.

The fear is that if they do not air their suspicions, the violence could end in murder.

Det Insp Marianne Huison, force strategic co-ordinator for domestic violence, forced marriage and harassment, said: “While the profile of domestic abuse has been raised significantly in recent years, it is a crime which is still vastly under-reported.

“Reviews of domestic homicides highlight time after time that friends, relatives, work colleagues and neighbours of the victim were often aware of a history of domestic abuse, but did not notify the authorities who could have intervened at an early stage.

“We hope that by giving people the opportunity to report their concerns anonymously and in confidence using the Crimestoppers number, we will increase the number of third-party reports we receive and therefore be able to identify and help more victims at the earliest possible stage.’’

She added: “We are asking people to think deeply about their responsibility to others. Do you turn the television up to block out the noise of what you know is going on next door? Do you see someone at work or picking the kids up from school who always seems to have unexplained injuries?

“Your call could be vital in helping the police and partner agencies to give that person the support they need to get out of an abusive relationship and, in the extreme cases, you could be saving their life.

“We understand that previously people may have been reluctant to contact the police because they didn’t want to get involved or feared reprisals.

“But now people have the anonymity and security of Crimestoppers. We want people to be reassured that while our main priority will be to help the victim, we will make sure we protect the identity of the person giving information and will investigate in a way that does not compromise them in any way.”

Det Sgt Gary Howarth from Yorkshire and Humber Crimestoppers said: “If this initiative can help to save just one person from domestic abuse then it will have been worthwhile.

“The Crimestoppers system has been hugely successful in gaining information about crime over the years and we now hope that people will use it to report their concerns about victims of domestic abuse.

“People can pass on their information in confidence and remain completely anonymous. We never tape or trace calls and we don’t ask callers for any personal details. All we want is the information that we can then pass on to specialist officers to deal with appropriately.”

Phone Crimestoppers free and confidentially on 0800 555 111.