Police say threatening and insulting text messages don’t count as domestic abuse

The police are discounting threatening and insulting text messages as a form of domestic abuse with tens of thousands of incident records estimated to be missing.

The Domestic Abuse Commissioner warned almost 17,600 domestic abuse crimes are missing from data released on Thursday due to the government overhauling the rules on how the police should record incidents.

In June last year, the Home Office ordered the police to only count one crime for every time a victim reports abuse, as well as permitting officers to stop counting incidents where victims receive threatening or abusive messages.

Figures show domestic abuse crimes dropped by eight per cent - falling from 219,658 between April and June last year to 202,079 between October to December 2023.

The fiercely criticised government changes come after a review by the National Police Chiefs Council, with ministers saying the move was an attempt to curb administration.

Domestic Abuse Commissioner Nicole Jacobs told The Independent: “It is outrageous that administrative ease has been put before accurate reporting of domestic abuse.”

Ms Jacobs said: “We call domestic abuse a number one priority, but our government cannot even say exactly how many domestic abuse crimes are being investigated by the police. That is simply unacceptable.”

She branded the government’s changes a “serious mistake”, arguing correct data is key to tackling domestic abuse and raising fears counting fewer crimes will mean the issue is less likely to be prioritised.

“I am calling for these new counting rules to be robustly evaluated, and for a clear plan of action to be set out once the evaluation is concluded to ensure victims are not adversely affected,” she added.

“We also need investment in functional IT systems and robust data tracking of victims from report through to court. Only then will we have a clear picture of how we can and must improve the response of the criminal justice system.”

The analysis also discovered a decline of 26 per cent in the number of malicious communication offences recorded by the police - a fall of 71,134 reports. Some 850,000 domestic abuse incidents were recorded by police in the year ending December 2023.

Jess Eagelton, of Refuge, a leading domestic abuse charity which partners with The Independent, said it is rare for domestic abuse to occur in “isolation or one-off instances”.

She added: “We know data on domestic abuse is often just the tip of the iceberg, as women are faced with a myriad of barriers when reporting crimes that they have experienced to the police.”

Lucy Hadley, of Women’s Aid, another leading domestic abuse charity, said: ”We know that when it comes to crime, what gets measured, gets done – which is why accurate statistics are absolutely critical. We are immensely disappointed that the accurate reporting of domestic abuse figures has been undermined.”

She added: “The inability to capture accurate data on domestic abuse risks further denting women’s trust in the justice system and allowing perpetrators to continue to commit crimes with impunity.”

A spokesperson for the Home Office said: “It isn’t true to say the changes to the Home Office counting rules cover up domestic abuse cases.”

The representative added: “Crime recording practices do not impact the way the police respond to these crimes. We have made it clear that forces must prioritise their response to crimes like domestic abuse by adding violence against women and girls to the Strategic Policing requirement.”