SUSSEX Police were called to 898 incidents of alleged domestic abuse over the recent festive season, compared with 834 such incidents over a very similar period in 2008/9.
For three weeks, from December 17 to January 3, Sussex Police deployed special units to be the first response to such incidents.
Every evening of the campaign teams of uniformed officers worked a dedicated shift to attend incidents of domestic ab
use as their sole priority over all other types of policing incidents, providing a high profile timely investigation and dealing robustly with any offenders.
This was the second year that Sussex Police ran a force-wide campaign.
Certain days were particularly busy with calls for help. For example on Christmas Eve there were 39 incidents across Sussex.
Christmas Day led to 33 reports of abuse, but this increased again on Boxing Day with 65 people being recorded as being abused by their partners or family members.
On December 27 the number of victims recorded increased again to 75, including many violent assaults. High levels of incidents were reported throughout the campaign but New Year's Day was another busy time with 58 reports.
It is a sad fact that some people experience abuse repeatedly and there were individual cases where there was a particularly high risk of abuse occurring over the Christmas period.
Officers carried out regular checks on and visits to high risk victims identified by specialist investigators.
They carried out regular checks of identified high risk offenders and ensured that offenders on bail were not breaching any of the conditions of that bail. This made a noticeable difference in reducing offending against some of the most vulnerable people.
The campaign was supported by dedicated victim support services, including the provision of the Independent Domestic Violence Advocate (IDVA) around Sussex.
