{"id":6473,"date":"2014-03-04T10:43:04","date_gmt":"2014-03-04T10:43:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tat.reddaisytrading.co.uk\/index.php\/2014\/03\/04\/approach-helps-to-rescue-sufferers-of-domestic-abuse\/"},"modified":"2016-01-07T13:48:18","modified_gmt":"2016-01-07T13:48:18","slug":"approach-helps-to-rescue-sufferers-of-domestic-abuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2014\/03\/04\/approach-helps-to-rescue-sufferers-of-domestic-abuse\/","title":{"rendered":"Approach Helps to Rescue Sufferers of Domestic Abuse"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Personal Account on How Victims to Take a Stand<\/h3>\n
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As the national police lead for tackling domestic abuse calls on forces to \u201cget the basics right”, we look at the evolving approach in south Birmingham that\u2019s encouraging more victims to take a stand. PC Kelly McJannett and PC Ray Ahmed are on the evening shift, based on Bournville Lane police station.<\/strong><\/div>\n

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It\u2019s 5pm in south Birmingham and a mother of two sits sobbing in her living room as a friend from next-door prepares sausage and chips for the children\u2019s dinner in the next room.<\/p>\n


\nBreaking down in tears, she turns to two police officers and asks desperately: “If I make that complaint now, what are you going to do for me and my kids…I can\u2019t stay here.”<\/p>\n


\nShe called 999 when her ex-partner went round, damaged her window and smashed her mobile phone. He went off the rails that morning when she said she was leaving him.<\/p>\n


\nThe fear can be heard in her voice as she pleads with the two PCs for help.<\/p>\n


\n“Please don\u2019t get upset, we can sort out all the safeguarding issues for you. That\u2019s why we\u2019re here, that\u2019s why we\u2019re in plain clothes. We have the time to be with you and reassure you and make sure that you and your children are safe,” says PC Kelly McJanett.<\/p>\n


\nShe and PC Ray Ahmed have been despatched to the property in an unmarked Vauxhall Corsa – the area\u2019s dedicated \u2018domestic abuse car\u2019.<\/p>\n


\nThey\u2019re part of a response shift – the team that responds to emergency calls – but for today are dedicated to helping people who\u2019re suffering at the hands of abusive partners.<\/p>\n


\nThere are always two constables assigned to this role, all day, every day, as part of a special pilot that\u2019s been running in south Birmingham since November last year.<\/p>\n


\nIt\u2019s because domestic abuse is one of the biggest contributors to police demand in this part of the city. The local command team are responding by looking at innovative ways to get to the root cause of the issue.<\/p>\n


\n“It\u2019s not rocket science, it\u2019s just good policing” said Sergeant Matt Crowley, the man developing the trial. “It\u2019s about taking the time to really listen to people, rather than have officers worrying about the next job they\u2019re going to be sent to.<\/p><\/div>\n

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“If we can invest that time and commitment at the really early stage of the investigation, as soon as the call comes in, we can make a real difference. Victims are telling us it works and so are our officers.<\/p>\n


\n“Take the woman with the cats,” he says, “she\u2019d call us all the time until one day an officer asked her, \u2019what would it take for you to leave him?\u2019 She said, \u2019I just don\u2019t want to lose the cats\u2019.<\/p>\n


\n“Well, we were straight on to the cattery. It worked. We got her moved out, she wasn\u2019t a victim anymore and she kept her pets. We never heard from her again and all it took was for someone to dig a bit deeper and ask the right questions.”<\/p>\n


\nBack at the flat, PC McJanett and PC Ahmed have turned their radios down; they know they aren\u2019t going to be sent to any other calls while they\u2019re with this vulnerable woman, who is now starting to open up.<\/p>\n


\nThey\u2019re an hour into the visit and after making a statement about the criminal damage, the victim has also now revealed details of historical physical abuse, which is going into the officers\u2019 report.<\/p>\n


\n“I just want him to rot in hell,” she says. A far cry from her original hesitation about pressing charges before the two officers sat down and talked her slowly through the things that can be done to help and protect her.<\/p><\/div>\n


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Two hours later and after measures have been put in place to ensure the safety of the victim and her children, the officers return to the car.<\/p>\n


\n“She actually turned around and said thank you for your help, you\u2019ve made me feel a lot better,” said PC McJanett. “By spending a bit of time with her and speaking with her and taking an extra few minutes, she gave a statement to us, which is the result we wanted, for her.”<\/p>\n


\nOn returning to Bournville Lane police station, the two officers complete the paperwork and PC Ahmed instructs the late shift to try and find the suspect to arrest him.<\/p>\n


\nMeanwhile, Sgt Crowley is putting the finishing touches to his review of the domestic abuse car pilot: “It\u2019s nothing new; the domestic abuse car has always been around to add additional support, but it\u2019s never been used to this extent before and what we\u2019re trying to do now is evolve that approach.<\/p>\n


\n“Over the last few years and during Operation Sentinel in 2013 we\u2019ve learnt what works and grown to better meet the demands of the people who really need our help.<\/p>\n


\n“By putting our officers in a position where they\u2019re able to spend more time helping that victim to open up at the earliest opportunity, we\u2019re able to signpost, safeguard and point the in the direction of real solutions – to stop the cycle of domestic abuse once and for all.”<\/p><\/div>\n

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Call 101 to talk to a specially trained safeguarding officer – even if you are not the victim but know someone who is being abused, please come forward and report it. In an emergency always dial 999.<\/strong><\/div>\n


\n<\/span><\/span> \n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Personal Account on How Victims to Take a Stand As the national police lead for tackling domestic abuse calls on forces to \u201cget the basics right”, we look at the evolving approach in south Birmingham that\u2019s encouraging more victims to take a stand. PC Kelly McJannett and PC Ray Ahmed are on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}