11862 Officers Trained as DV Responders

I write in connection with your request for information dated 6^th April 2020 and received by this office on 7^th April 2020.  Below are the questions raised in your request and our response.

Please can you tell me, as of April 1st 2020, how many officers currently working within your force have been specifically trained to be first responders to reports of domestic abuse made by the public?

1. a) We have contacted the Protecting Vulnerable People Department, Domestic Abuse Team and they have advised that:

All officers on joining the police undertake initial police learning development programme. This includes training on dealing with domestic incidents as a first responder. Currently there are 406 officers in Response officer roles who will have undertaken this programme or are working their way through it. Officers will attain an accreditation for investigating which will include investigating offences committed in domestic abuse situations and the force has 847 officers trained to this level. More specialist investigators get a higher level of accreditation and the force has 416 officers trained to this next level.

In addition to this in 2018/2019 the force delivered two further training packages covering domestic abuse, one focussing on coercive controlling behaviour, which was attended by 712 officers and one more generally about vulnerability which was attended by 857 officers.

Please note any statistical data supplied in relation to Freedom of Information requests is a snapshot of data held at the time the request was received by the Freedom of Information office and is subject to constant change/updates.

The Cleveland Police response to your request is unique and it should be noted that Police Forces do not use generic systems or identical procedures to capture and record data therefore responses from Cleveland Police should not be used as a comparison with any other force response you receive.

If you are not satisfied with this response or any actions taken in dealing with your request you have the right to request an independent internal review of your case under our review procedure. The APP College of Policing guidance states that a request for internal review should be made within 20 working days of the date on this response or 40 working days if extenuating circumstances to account for the delay can be evidenced.

We have made every effort to ensure a response was provided within statutory deadlines, however due to current circumstances delays have been unavoidable.  If your response was late we apologise for any inconvenience it may have caused.  If we can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact this office.