ALMOST 3000 domestic violence incidents have been dealt with by Strathclyde Police in the two months of a campaign tackling crime against women and the fear of crime, but these are just ''the tip of the iceberg'', Chief Constable John Orr said yesterday.
Mr Orr said 2777 incidents had been reported since the launch in February of the Women's Safety initiative. As a result, 871 people had been charged, including 839 males and 32 females.
The figures were published on the same day a battered wife told the audience in a packed conference hall about her two-year ordeal at the hands of her brutal husband. The 37-year-old mother was one of the main speakers at a two-day multi-agency Northern Constabulary training seminar to teach officers how to deal with domestic violence situations and offer support, help, and guidance to victims.
Announcing results from the first two months of Strathclyde's campaign, Mr Orr said: ''The figures show that domestic violence exists in homes in Strathclyde and is a very real fear felt by women force-wide. However, there is a possibility these reported incidents are just the tip of the iceberg.
''Strathclyde officers have now been re-trained to deal with domestic violence situations and we will offer around-the-clock help for women who feel in any way threatened.
''This initiative, which is part of the force's wider community safety strategy, aims to prevent crimes against women, detect those who commit crimes against women, and reduce the fear of crime among women by showing them how to avoid risks. An important strand of this initiative has been the establishment of partnerships with other key organisations. It is my fervent hope that through a process of consolidation and continuous improvement on the last two months, women will have more confidence in the police.
''I urge women who feel at risk to phone the police or any of the agencies involved in the initiative, as it is only through awareness that we can hope to impact on this wholly unacceptable and indeed contemptible behaviour.''
Among the incidents police have had to deal with were: a drunk who repeatedly punched his pregnant girlfriend and a man who got into his ex-girlfriend's house and began to punch her on the face because she was pregnant to another man.
The figures showed that ''an astonishing'' 43.9% of domestic violence incidents took place in the presence of children and that 43.5% of incidents involved alcohol. Males aged between 26 and 35 were the main suspects in domestic violence incidents. The youngest suspect was aged 13 and the oldest aged 87. The majority of victims were women aged between 26 and 35, The youngest was eight and the oldest 79.
Mr Orr said more high-visibility patrols were being used to make women feel more confident when walking alone or in areas where they felt vulnerable.
Vodaphone had offered a number of mobile phones to be loaned, on a short-term basis, to particularly vulnerable women who feared they may be attacked by their partners and who did not have direct access to a telephone.
Personal attack alarms had also been handed out to those women who felt vulnerable when on their own in the home or in the street.
He said Glasgow City Council had approved the installation of security alarms to homes of females who experienced repeat incidents of domestic violence.
Meanwhile, Northern Constabulary said such incidents would no longer be written off as ''a domestic''.
Detective Chief Inspector Charlie Hepburn told an Inverness seminar: ''We are stressing that domestic abuse has to be regarded as a criminal activity and will be investigated as such. It is a serious issue and accounts for 25% of all reported crime nationally.''
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