A number of recommendations aimed at helping the police improve the way the deal with crimes and victims of domestic abuse are contained in a report published today.

The report, from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), recommends that:

• The setting up of a national database of perpetrators and victims is urgently addressed by all forces.
• the domestic abuse officer role is reviewed in line with the identified good practice in this report.
• all forces work together (with the Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA) where appropriate), to develop a common approach to training and support for officers.
• all forces adopt a model of victim risk assessment and risk management as soon as possible, whilst working towards implementing a single core model across Scotland, and that forces focus on ensuring the quality of the information gathered.
• forces review and reinforce their quality assurance practices and processes for recording domestic abuse incidents.

Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary Mr Paddy Tomkins said:

"Domestic abuse has the highest rate of repeat victimisation of any crime, even though only a proportion of all incidents are reported to the police.

"Every call represents an opportunity to identify a pattern of abuse and an opportunity to intervene to prevent further or escalating acts of violence in the future.

"That’s why effective record-keeping and ease of access to information are key to an effective response to domestic abuse. We believe that a national database of victims and offenders

would help the police to better respond to potential domestic abuse cases.

"We found many examples of good practice across Scotland and this report is designed to help make sure that all forces can learn from that.

"In particular the role of the Domestic Abuse Officer varied between forces and we’d like to see all forces review their own posts against this good practice to make sure we have consistency across Scotland.

"I hope these recommendations can help our police forces to respond more effectively and consistently to potential incidents of domestic abuse, and ultimately help make sure that fewer Scots end up suffering this crime."