PCC reaffirms commitment for thousands of domestic abuse victims

PCC John Campion reaffirms his commitment to work with communities to do better for those that suffer at the hands of a loved one.

From April to September of this year, there were 9,060 domestic abuse crimes within West Mercia, of which 299 were coercive control offences. The total figure was a 4% increase on the previous year. However, this doesn’t tell the whole story. Many other people will have been living with violence, fear and controlling behaviour day in day out for months, if not years.

As we head towards Christmas, when domestic abuse typically spikes, the Commissioner has finalised his plan which focuses on reducing the number of people abused or exposed to domestic abuse and ensures the right support is provided locally to victims and survivors.

He is also working with partners and West Mercia Police to disrupt abusive behaviours and improve the police response. There has already been significant investment by the PCC to tackle this horrendous crime and get to the root cause, which includes working with perpetrators.

Following a consultation, which involved public and partner input, the PCC has reaffirmed his drive to tackle domestic abuse and highlighted that the cycle of abuse must be broken and it will only happen by working together; professionally, personally, as a society, and as a community.

PCC John Campion said: “We, as a society, cannot continue to just accept this behaviour as a fact of life. Victims, survivors, their children and loved ones deserve better. This includes better help at the time of crisis to be kept safe, better help to cope and recover from the trauma, better support from the criminal justice system to bring those responsible to justice and better action to drive this horrible crime from our society.

“We, as a whole community, need to see this as a problem, not a crime type that is almost dismissed or ignored because we don’t think it’s happening to us or someone we know. Whilst the profile of domestic abuse is being raised more, it’s still not enough. More people need to understand the extent of the problem and the fact domestic abuse can manifest itself in many different ways. It is my commitment to transform the local response and ensure we’re doing the very best for the victims.”

The PCC’s Domestic Abuse strategy can be viewed here.

Issued on: Tuesday 10th November 2020