We need a public inquiry to uncover the truth about the scale of domestic violence in the UK

Three short words capture it all: “not good enough”. This was the stark conclusion reached by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), after a six-month inspection of how police forces are responding to victims of domestic violence.

This finding offers a grim form of relief. For years, Refuge has been battling to bring poor police practice to light – to demonstrate the enormous depth of institutional failure in response to victims of domestic violence. Our services support 3,000 women and children on any given day, many of whom have experienced horrific brutality. I have seen women beaten black and blue whilst pregnant, women who have been blinded, raped, disfigured. So many women have also told me that they feel completely let down by the police. All too often, women who make the extraordinarily brave decision to report their experiences of abuse are met with apathy, disbelief and – sometimes – outright hostility.

At last, the voices and experiences of these women have been validated.

Problems with the ‘canteen culture’ of policing are just one part of the problem. HMIC’s report highlights other alarming weaknesses with basic policing duties: failure to arrest dangerous men, failure to collect evidence, failure to prioritise domestic violence – a crime that instigates a call to the police every 30 seconds. One of the report’s most alarming findings is that weaknesses in the police response can put women and children at “unnecessary risk”.

Domestic violence already carries enormous, life-threatening risks. Every week two women are killed by current or former partners in England and Wales. The police have a duty to reduce risk – not create it.

The truth is that police failure is just the tip of the iceberg. I was particularly heartened to read HMIC’s recommendation that there now needs to be a much wider inspection of how all state agencies respond to victims of domestic violence. At Refuge we know that, all too often, women and children are let down by multiple agencies: the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), social services, health, probation and housing. That’s why we are calling on the Government to open a public inquiry into the state response to victims of domestic violence.

A Stephen Lawrence style inquiry into this huge issue is long overdue. It has been four decades since Refuge opened the country’s first safe house for women and children fleeing domestic violence. Four decades on, women and children are still dying in huge numbers as a result of this horrific crime – partly because state agencies are failing to protect them.

The UK Government has a duty to respond appropriately to domestic violence in line with its international legal obligations. Refuge has taken legal advice on this issue and has been advised that there is a legal imperative for the Government to take steps to address systemic deficiencies in the state response to victims of domestic violence. A public inquiry would enable the Government to fulfill that duty.

A public inquiry would uncover the truth. It would help us to understand why the death toll taken by domestic violence continues to be so shockingly high. It would help us to deliver meaningful change that will make Britain a safer place for women and children.

Please join us in our call for a public inquiry by signing our petition here: www.refuge.org.uk/publicinquiry.