Essex Police made more than 250 Clare's Law disclosures in just four months as the force says it is "doing a better job" at protecting domestic abuse victims.
Reports of domestic abuse in the county have fallen in the past 12 months, with nearly 4,500 fewer offences, and the number of repeat victims has also fallen.
During that time, Essex Police has also made improvements to how officers respond to domestic abuse incidents, protect and support victims, and manage offenders.
Clare's Law - named after Clare Wood, 36, who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend George Appleton in 2009 - deals primarily with convictions for violent or abusive behaviour. Under the scheme, individuals can ask police to check whether a new or existing partner has a violent past.
If police checks show a person may be at risk of domestic violence from their partner, the police will consider disclosing the information.
Out of 43 police force for which data was available, the Observer reports Essex Police had previously proportionally shared information the least – declining 95 per cent of the 1,940 Clare’s law applications it received in the two years to March 2023.
Now, police are improving the number of disclosures made and enhancing the content of its disclosures, after a major review of its response to domestic abuse.
Detective Superintendent Matt Cornish, the force’s lead for domestic abuse, said: “In January 2023 we undertook a major review of our response to domestic abuse in Essex with an aim of implementing the College of Policing-approved Domestic Abuse Risk Assessment (DARA), and continue to improve our response to DA victims and the management of DA perpetrators.
“As a part of this project, we updated our approach to Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS) disclosures; ensuring adherence to the new Home Office guidance, seeking to improve both the number of disclosures made and enhancing the content of those disclosures.
“This ensures we are now reaching even more potential victims of DA and giving them the information, they needed to make an informed decision.
“Our work around the DVDS aspect is backed by research led by Essex University’s Dr Kat Hadjimatheou, who also sits on the national DVDS working group.
“We recognised we needed to do more to support victims and potential victims of domestic abuse through the DVDS.
“Now, we have a specialist Domestic Abuse Review Team (DART) of more than 20 officers focusing on these disclosures. We are making more disclosures and sharing more information than ever before.”
Following the implementation of this team from August 1 to December 31, Essex Police made 264 disclosures. This was 65.7 per cent of all processed applications at the time.
Det Supt Cornish says these figures are not in the ONS statistics as they have not yet been published.
“We share information where someone has spent or unspent convictions, whether allegations have been made or whether we have gathered any intelligence reports that suggest they may be at risk of domestic abuse,” he continued.
“This team is also taking an increasingly proactive approach for our ‘right to know’ applications, regularly reviewing any medium and high-risk suspects of domestic abuse to ensure we are sharing information about them with the right people.
“We are using the full capability of the Home Office’s legislation for Clare’s Law to keep the people of Essex as safe as we can.”
He added: “The work of teams like this are driving down the number of incidents of domestic abuse, which is reducing in Essex.”
Police encourage anyone with concerns, either on behalf of themselves, or a friend or family member, to make contact via the Essex Police website, where their application will be considered.
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