More support will be offered to domestic abuse survivors in Mansfield and Ashfield in new scheme

The ‘Domestic Abuse Partnership Car’ will be deployed in Mansfield and Ashfield from April and will see domestic abuse support workers teaming up with police officers to incidents.

The joint initiative, which is being run by Nottinghamshire Police and Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner Paddy Tipping, at a cost of £47,000, will operate as a secondary response to emergency calls.

It complements the launch of a new process by Nottinghamshire Police which will see two additional full-time staff joining the Research and Insight Team to improve communication and engagement with medium risk survivors of domestic abuse.

The new staff will call survivors about six weeks after they first report abuse to police to update them on the status of their case.

PCC Paddy Tipping said: “Both of these initiatives are an exciting step forward for Nottinghamshire, helping to reach the most vulnerable and at risk survivors in our communities.

“Both the new Domestic Abuse Partnership Car and the new contact process will ensure survivors of abuse feel valued, supported and clear on what is happening and when. It will also reassure survivors specialist help is available at any point of their journey.”

Mansfield and Ashfield have the highest rates of domestic abuse call outs in the county.

Chief Constable Craig Guildford, from Nottinghamshire Police, said: “We welcome the funding for these two new posts, which will enable us to work evenly more closely with victims and survivors of abuse.

“By engaging directly with them we can then learn from their experiences and ensure we create the best service we can at every contact they have with us. It is vital we do this so we can build trust and confidence and people are reassured that we take them seriously and that we will do everything in our power to bring perpetrators to justice and to protect them. These new posts will build on changes we have made over the last year to ensure we are maximising our reach to victims and survivors this way.”

The Domestic Abuse Partnership Car will operate on Friday and Saturday nights when a high percentage of incidents occur.