'Two-way conversation' move could better help domestic abuse victims in Cambridgeshire - police
More than 13,000 domestic abuse-related incidents have been recorded in the county so far this year
Police in Cambridgeshire say using new tactics to tackle domestic abuse can help more victims come forward.
From January to October this year, 13,079 domestic abuse-related incidents were recorded, with 12,521 of these attended.
In total, 72% of victims in these incidents were women.
The figures come amid an international 16-day campaign - after White Ribbon Day on November 25 - which encourages men and boys to take action and tackle behaviour that leads to women and girls being abused or harmed.
Alicia Yorke is domestic abuse tactical lead at Cambridgeshire Police:
"That inspires us as officers, looking at that (campaign) and police staff to think if we're going to change the behaviour of men in society and end violence against women and girls, we need to be advocates for that ourselves," she said.
"We have to invest in our officers' training to understand what domestic abuse is and how this affects our victims."
Out of the domestic abuse-related incidents recorded this year from a total of 131,464 reports of all offences, 8,852 crimes were raised, a drop on last year's total of 10,117 crimes.
Last year, 15,179 incidents were recorded by Cambridgeshire Police out of 151,806 of all incidents.
Out of more than 900 applications from November 2023 until the same month this year, 363 people across Cambridgeshire were told their partner has a history of violence through Clare's Law.
The scheme - named after Clare Wood who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend who had a history of violence - gives people the right to ask police about whether the person they're in a relationship with has an abusive record.
'Two-way conversation' with victims
Police officers in Cambridgeshire are planning to roll out new methods such as a risk assessment process across the force as well as rapid video response, to help encourage more victims to come forward.
"It's a two-way conversation with the victim to understand what's going on in the holistic picture of their relationship, so I'd expect to see crimes may rise because we're recognising more crimes from speaking to our victims," Ms Yorke added.
"What we can do is afford that time to build up that rapport with the victim and get the information from the risk assessment we need by having a conversation as opposed to a checklist style which police have done in the past.
"Ultimately, we need caring and compassionate police officers to understand what somebody is going through and I think the training we've got going on, I think we are nearly there."