Rise in Hartlepool domestic violence incidents since pandemic outbreak

The Safer Hartlepool Partnership this week heard there were 781 incidents of domestic abuse in Hartlepool reported to the police between January and March 2021.

This 23 more than for the same period ending March last year.

A total of 303 reports were repeat incidents, up from 298 for the previous 12 months.

While referrals to all specialist domestic violence services provided by Harbour increased from 791 to 823, referrals for refuge/supported accommodation rose by 126% from 35 to 79.

Sally Robinson, Hartlepool Borough Council’s director for children’s and joint commissioning services, said: “We don’t compare particularly favourably to other areas, I think it links to incidents of violent crime and other issues we have in the police force area.

“We certainly have more work to do to reduce the incidents of domestic abuse, particularly repeat incidents.”

Chief Inspector Mark Haworth, of the Hartlepool Neighbourhood Policing Team, said Cleveland Police see similar levels of domestic abuse throughout the force’s four regions.

He said: “The scrutiny that goes on and the emphasis from partnership agencies and police to now arrest domestic violence offenders at the earliest opportunity takes place every single day.

“There are dedicated resources right across the partnership agencies and from a police perspective to get those people in as quickly as possible and that tends to lower the rates.”

He added it will be “interesting” to see what figures look like next year and he hopes they will have improved.