Cheshire Domestic abuse advocate: "We're dealing with it every day"
It follows research showing an increase in domestic abuse during football tournaments
A domestic abuse advocate says while there is an increase in cases of domestic abuse during the European Championships, the reality is this is what they're dealing with at Cheshire Police every single day.
Jessica Attwood was one of the first domestic violence advocates to be recruited by Cheshire Police around 18 months ago. Her role is to safeguard victims and educate officers throughout investigations and how they respond to incidents.
Ms Attwood is working during the football tournament - the force has a dedicated domestic abuse car during matches where she and officers respond to any incidents that are reported.
She then serves as an intermediary between the reported victim and the police to offer specialist support.
Research from The National Centre for Domestic Violence has shown that cases have risen by 38% when England have lost and by over 26% regardless of a win or draw.
Despite, that Ms Attwood says it's business as usual for her and Cheshire Police as responding to incidents of domestic abuse happens day-to-day.
Ms Attwood said:
"For us, as a force with Cheshire, our force priority is domestic abuse anyway. Even though statistically there is an increase (in reported cases of domestic abuse) nationwide, this is what we deal with day in, day-out. It's business as usual for us in the sense that we're tackling this every single day.
"As a whole, we are prepared around the increase and the research that has been done around domestic abuse increasing when the football is on, we are prepared to respond to that.
"We have a zero-tolerance stance"
"Yes, I'm out and about in the cars, but I'm just responding as usual because we are very busy. The majority of our reports (to Cheshire Police) are around domestic abuse in general because we have a zero-tolerance stance towards domestic abuse.
"There are a lot of people going through domestic abuse and (I want to) push the word out there that it is going on. If you are going through it, you shouldn't be going through it and there is help out there.
"I'm very, very busy. There is a high demand for me, the team that we've created since my job role has started has expanded. We've just recruited one more (person) to help me cover the area that I cover because there is such a demand for the response to domestic abuse.
"Football is never an excuse for domestic abuse"
"This is going on day in, day out regarldess of whether the football is on. Football is never an excuse for domestic abuse.
Cheshire Police and other forces across the country are all taking part in a operation during this tournament to make sure people are watching the football in a safe environment - and to respond if that's not the case.
Women's Aid is an organisation calling for more research to better understand the link between domestic abuse and football.
Ms Attwood added:
"Football is not the cause of domestic abuse, I need to make that very, very clear, but it is a risk-factor. A lot of people will go out drinking, alcohol consumption increases, emotions are heightened during these tournament times and I just need to make it very clear that football is not an excuse for domestic abuse, it is not the reason of domestic abuse, it is just a catalyst for pre-existing abuse to increase.
"No-one will sit in front of me and say because England have been playing, this is the reason why I'm subjected to abuse. However, all these risk factors that are contributing to this situation have added to that pre=existing abuse. The abuse is already there, it is just escalated at that moment in time. It's never an excuse, at all.
"I never want it to get to the point where we end up with someone who is no longer here because they've been murdered due to domestic abuse. That's why it's so important for us to tackle it and have a zero-tolerance policy towards domestic abuse because often there is a pattern to that behaviour, it doesn't often start off with the physical violence.
"It can be a slow-burner over time. Of course there's cases where I've seen it get progressively worse quite quickly and those are the cases that really do stick with me and do really concern me. However, I can sit in front of someone and say it was good for the first year, but when you sit and unpick it all, there's a pattern of those red flags, those behaviours that we are seeing in general of that cycle of domestic abuse where well no, actually that wasn't not OK, that was a red flag, you shouldn't have to tolerate that behaviour and you need to set those boundaries from the early stages because then we do see that escalation and it does get to the point where it's physical violence.
"A lot of times, when police get involved, it is at the physical stage because that person feels like there's no other option than to call police at that point but when you sit down and unpick it with that person, they've been subject to all of this other abuse - it doesn't just have to be physical, there's a lot of psychological and emotional abuse that people go through.
"The amount of people who sit in front of me and say 'yes I've been physically assaulted, but I would much rather go through than be subject to all this emotional abuse, this psychological abuse because those words stick with me.'
"It's unbelievable the amount of people who sit in front of me on a daily (basis) and say that and I think you will never understand that unless you have gone through that yourself. It's the psychological implications afterwards that people have to go through to recover from what they've been through."
Ms Attwood put out a TikTok just before the start of Euro 2024 to urge any victims to come forward and seek support. It has watched more than 900,000 times.
She also wants anyone with worries around seeing concerning behaviour to speak up.
She added:
"If you see something on a night out, if you have concerns about anyone, speak up and out about it because the likelihood is if you're seeing something in public, what is going on behind closed doors?
"People do turn a blind eye to it and shouldn't. We should be confronting it, this behaviour is not acceptable.
"Obviously do it if it's safe to do so. Call police, if you see security, if you've got concerns, address those concerns, highlight it.
"When we're working with victims of domestic abuse, when professionals are involved, it's not 'why won't they leave' (it's) 'what are the consequences of them leaving', we need to reframe the way we're asking these questions because it's not that easy.
"When you're stuck in a domestic abuse cycle, it is so hard to get out because a perpetrator's aim is to control them, it's to isolate them, take everything away from them so they feel like they're the only person that they've got.
"When it does come to a victim leaving that relationship, it is so hard because they feel like well if they leave this relationship, they've got nothing. There's often threats there to life and it is about that control.
"I'm not saying if you walk away from a relationship it's going to be easy because we know that it can increase when someone leaves an abusive relationship - that can be the most dangerous time of someone being in an abusive relationship is when they leave because that control is taken away from the perpetrator and it's about professionals and people in general being aware of that and knowing that there is support out there, there is safeguarding that can be put in place and I just want someone to listen to this if they are being subject to abuse that there is help out there.
"I'll never sit here and say it's going to be easy, because it's not, but there is support to put in place that if you do want to leave, it's out there.
Support services:
- National Centre for Domestic Violence - Contact NCDV · Domestic Abuse & Violence Support
- Open The Door Cheshire - Home - Open the Door Cheshire
- Refuges - Refuge Provision (cheshireeast.gov.uk)
- Cheshire East Domestic Abuse Hub - Domestic Abuse Getting Help (cheshireeast.gov.uk)
- DAIPS - Domestic abuse intervention and prevention service | Cheshire West and Chester Council
- Refuge - Refuge, the largest UK domestic abuse organisation for women
- Women's Aid - Home - Women's Aid (womensaid.org.uk)
- FLOWS - FLOWS | Finding Legal Options for Women Survivors
- Sharan Project - Sharan | Supporting South Asian Women in the UK
A scheme called 'Clare's Law' is also in operation at every police force that allows forces to release information about any previous history of violence or abuse a person might have.
More here.