NEW figures reveal a dramatic rise in domestic violence incidents across the city.
Figures obtained exclusively by the Advertiser under the Freedom of Information Act show almost 14,000 reports of domestic violence between April 2004 and August this year, with recent figures indicating a rise in the number of incidents reported.
In the 2006-7 financial year, Salford police received 3,320 reports of domestic violence, but in the first four months of this financial year the figure is almost 3,000.
Domestic abuse charities have welcomed the statistics, claiming that women are now feeling more confident reporting domestic incidents to the police.
Dawn Redshaw, from Salford Women's Aid, said: "This is great news for women in Salford and we hope it continues. Women now have more confidence in the police, who have dedicated teams to deal with the issue."
One woman, who did not wish to be named for fear of reprisals, suffered at the hands of her former partner for years before she spoke out.
She said: "The first time, I didn't say anything and he promised not to do it again, but it kept happening. I just ran for the nearest phone and called the police.
"I’ve turned my life around and it was definitely worth coming forward."
Julie Hay, from solicitor Linder Myers, said that women should not feel intimidated by taking their cases to court.
She said: "Most firms have dedicated family divisions and there are special courts to deal with domestic violence. We try to keep victim and perpetrator as separate as possible to make the women feel at ease."
Andy Hampson, head of the council’s Safeguard scheme, called for more women to report any incidents of domestic abuse.
He said: "Salford has traditionally got high levels of domestic abuse. We’ve worked hard to get women and men who are victims of abuse in the home to come forward, and the city has a successful multi-agency approach to the issue, covering all bases."
Inspector Jill Clarke, of Salford’s Public Protection Unit, said: "Over the past 18 months we have been working extremely hard to give people the confidence to report domestic abuse in Salford. I can also assure victims that if they contact police they will be listened to and fully supported."
If you are a victim of domestic violence call Women’s Aid on: 0161 737 0737 or call the police on: 0161 856 5171.
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The figures for recorded incidents of domestic abuse for the following financial years in Salford were as follow:-
2003/04 2994 Female, 544 Men.
2004/05 2892 Female, 625 Men.
2005/06 3283 Female, 695 Men.
Men are between 5 and 9 times less likely to report that they are victims of domestic abuse.What are Salford Council and the respective bodies doing in Salford to encourage male victims to come forward?
www.mensaid.com
Domestic Violence is a social issue, not a gender problem. It will never be reduced until both sides of the problem are acknowledged and addressed by those who claim to be concerned about it.
The persistent claim that the overwhelming majority of victims of domestic violence are women is not supported by any impartial research, either in the UK or elsewhere. The results of all gender-neutral studies of domestic violence in couple relationships, published to date, indicate that there is an almost equal numerical culpability between men and women.
In spite of mounting evidence the issue of women's violence has been discounted or ignored by the media, law enforcement agencies and the social services. Furthermore, there is reason to be alarmed when our understanding of family violence, policy making and allocation of scarce resources has been significantly shaped without regard to an abundance of evidence showing that family violence as a social phenomenon is not gender-specific. This clearly has important implications for research, education funding and social policy.
The technique of collecting data from Women's Aid type groups is misleading the public about domestic violence because they use surveys that show higher rates of men as aggressors based on National Crime Survey data or official law-enforcement records, but these studies are flawed methodologically because the samples are not representative and because men are less likely to lodge official victimisation reports.
Another problem with much of the domestic violence literature is that it is based on clinical populations, specifically battered women receiving shelter services or therapy. Data collected and conclusions drawn from those who seek shelter or therapy cannot be generalised to the broader population. Victims who seek services may differ significantly from the broader population, so the value of these studies lies primarily in spawning clinical prescriptions for treatment, not in describing or explaining domestic violence in general. Studies of residents in shelters for battered women are sometimes cited to show that it is only their male partners who are violent. However, these studies rarely obtain or report information on assaults by women, and, when they do, they ask only about self-defence, precluding information on female initiated assaults.
Don't forget that women also abuse and that it is a million times harder for those abused by women to come forward or even get help.
I was turned away by domestic violence support services as I am male.
I was abused and raped by my ex-wife. She beat me up everyday and life was horrendous. I was under 9 stone when I got away from her but I could not take my child with me. I had nowhere to go. We had nowhere to go.
As she said who would they believe? Me or her? As it was they just chose to ignore me. I did all the mothering but not being able to say 'I'm the mother', it meant nothing.
I could not protect my child from further abuse and when it happened and I reported it people did nothing. There was no way to prove it.
Only by highlighting it did it lessen it but it did not help me get past my abuser and let me see my child again.
I do not welcome these statistics. I feel abused by so called support services who will not help me, courts that will not listen and solicitors who propose making false allegations.
We just need support services that help all victims, no matter what sex or sexuality they are. We need to acknowledge female abusers and male victims and help all victims heal together and all perpetrators stop abusing.
If we do not the cycle of abuse will never end and children will be left to suffer abuse alone and without their fathers.
Bottomline, we need to put gender to one side, and help all victims. We need a People's Aid.
By leaving comment here, I hope that one day the abuse and rape of me will lead to better services for all of us.
Love,
SC
There is information and advice for those who are suffering from domestic abuse on our website at www.gmp.police.uk/domesticabuse
The pages give advice for victims, they say what you can expect from the police if you get in touch with us and there are contact details for police and other support organisations.
There is also a link at the top and bottom of every page which allows you to quickly navigate away.