Specialist domestic abuse training delivered to thousands of officers and staff in West Yorkshire

The Domestic Abuse (DA) Matters culture change programme aimed to provide “consistency of service” to families experiencing domestic abuse.

The training has been delivered by the domestic abuse charity SafeLives, which developed the programme with the College of Policing.

It recognises the difficult role frontline officers play in dealing with domestic abuse and enables them to develop and respond to domestic abuse situations and also looked 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.

Since training started in March this year, it has been delivered to 3,210 professionals across West Yorkshire.

West Yorkshire Police’s violence against women and girls lead, Detective Superintendent Vanessa Rolfe, who led the delivery of the training, said:  “I am thrilled the force has now completed the training with SafeLives and hope that the learnings will be implemented in the daily roles of officers and staff across the organisation.

“Our officers and staff have previously and will continue to receive internal training in domestic abuse but with the support of SafeLives we were able to create continuous improvement both internally within force and externally with our partners in the overall response to better serve those affected by this type of crime.

“This training has brought a shared passion from trainers and officers to continue making improvements in the investigation of domestic abuse and the wider commitment to tackling this crime type that disproportionately affect women and girls.”

The programme’s introduction in West Yorkshire was supported by the Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin and Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime Alison Lowe OBE, who attended a recent course.

Ms Brabin, said: “There is no place for domestic abuse in West Yorkshire.

“It takes incredible bravery to speak out, and victims and survivors must receive the right support.

“We urged West Yorkshire Police to ensure its officers and staff had the right training to deliver this specialist support, and I am delighted that it is now a reality.”

Ms Lowe OBE added: “Sadly, we know women and girls are disproportionately affected by domestic abuse.

“We need to work as a region to make sure the right support is in place, which is why the Mayor and I felt this domestic abuse training was vital for our police force.

“It has been fantastic to see first-hand how sessions like today are further developing the skills and tools of those on the front line.”