Lancashire charity welcomes domestic abuse police control room pilot
Domestic abuse specialists will be embedded in 999 control rooms across some police forces
A Lancashire charity has welcomed news that domestic abuse specialists will be embedded in some police control rooms.
The Home Secretary has announced the launch of the Raneem's Law pilot in five police forces - as part of the government's commitment to halve violence against women and girls in a decade.
Raneem Oudeh and her mother Khaola Saleem were murdered by Raneem's ex-partner in 2018 - Raneem had called 999 fourteen times in the months leading up to her death to report incidents of domestic abuse, including threats to kill and stab her, violence and stalking.
Raneem also rang 999 four times on the night she and her mother were murdered. Despite telling the police that she and her mother had been assaulted, the police told her to go to her mother's home and locked the door and they would visit the next day.
She was on the phone to police when she and her mother were fatally stabbed.
An inquest ended with the jury's narrative conclusion finding that multiple police failures to investigate and safeguard had materially contributed to their deaths.
The task of these domestic abuse specialists will be to better protect victims and support police officers on the ground to combat violence against women and girls.
They will assess risk in real time, advise on risk assessments and work with police officers to make sure victims receive urgent help and get specialist support as quickly as possible.
Rebekah Wilson, from the Wish Centre in Blackburn, said:
"Having DA experts in control rooms is an amazing idea.
"I think that being able to risk assess in the moment, in that way, can only be beneficial and can only keep victims safer.
"We want to see victims have confidence in the call handlers and the police response and I think if they get a good response that first time, they are much more likely to continue to try and keep themselves safe by calling the police.
"I think police should be trained across the board not just call handlers and responders.
"I think our crown prosecution service also need more training when it comes to domestic abuse."