All frontline officers and staff at Durham Constabulary are set to receive specialist domestic abuse training to help protect vulnerable people.
Starting next month, the Domestic Abuse Matters (DA Matters) training programme will be rolled out to around 575 frontline officers and staff.
The training will be delivered over several months by the specialist domestic abuse charity SafeLives, which developed the programme with the College of Policing.
The aim of the training is to provide “consistency of service” to those who are experiencing domestic abuse.
It recognises the difficult role frontline police play in dealing with domestic abuse and will enable officers to develop and respond to domestic abuse situations and look at changing skills, behaviour and attitudes by challenging inappropriate language and behaviour.
The training covers areas such as coercive and controlling behaviour, understanding perpetrators, digital domestic abuse, assessing risk, male victims of domestic abuse and abuse involving older people.
Domestic abuse and violence accounts for almost 17% of all recorded crimes within County Durham and Darlington and the force deals with around 16,526 incidents each year.
Temporary superintendent Neil Fuller, from Durham Constabulary, said: “Every incident of domestic abuse is one too many – nobody should have to suffer abuse and violence at the hands of another.
“Our role as police officers and staff is to protect vulnerable people and keep them safe from harm, and we use all powers available to us to do this.
“Incidents of domestic abuse and violence are among the most complex investigations we deal with, and they require our utmost care and sensitivity.
“DA Matters is a crucial training programme that will complement other work we are carrying out within the force to enable our officers to gain a better understanding about all areas of domestic abuse and how we can develop and improve our response.
“This is an opportunity for us to make a direct change to victims and survivors of domestic abuse, and forms part of our commitment to tackling violence against women and girls.”
Ellen Miller, chief executive of SafeLives, said: “We are pleased to be working with Durham Constabulary and our fantastic team of experienced associate trainers to deliver DA Matters, a cultural change programme created with survivors and designed to create long term, sustainable change.
“We know that Durham Constabulary becoming an adopter force of DA Matters will be welcome news for victims and survivors of domestic abuse, as the programme is designed to increase awareness and understanding of coercive and controlling behaviour and create attitudinal change throughout the entire force.
“Enabling first responders to give a victim the right support for them, at the right time for them, leads to better outcomes and restores trust between survivors and police officers.
“Victims domestic abuse and police officers alike want to know that the criminal justice response to domestic abuse is as good as it can be. Durham Constabulary adopting DA Matters is an important step towards that.”