A new team of six Nottinghamshire police officers will provide an online response for domestic abuse victims in the county. Nottinghamshire Police say that video technology will ensure a speedier response to the 75 domestic abuse-related calls they receive each day. They also say that video calling means that victims won’t have a marked police car outside their house when officers take statements.
Police say that the streaming platform, GoodSAM, “ensures victims receive the same service as they would if an officer attended in-person, but with reduced delays”, and say that “we are committed to improving our service to victims.”
The six officers – one sergeant and five constables – have been formed into a new “Remote Investigations Domestic Abuse” (RIDA) team, based at the force’s control room. The online platform enables officers to send a secure link to victims via text or email.
“They need a device with a camera but they don’t need to download any applications and it doesn’t use any of their data”, Charlotte Cook, Nottinghamshire Police’s project manager, said. “That said, if a victim would rather have a police officer come to them in person, we will of course ensure that happens.”
The new RIDA team was launched in March and there are plans to create two more teams.
“We can already see a positive difference that we’re making in terms of victim satisfaction”, team leader Sergeant Sophie Dickinson said. “We’re able to reach a lot of victims who don’t want, for one reason or another, the police going to their address and we’re able to make an appointment with them on the GoodSAM call and still build a really good rapport with them.
“So far we’ve had really positive results. We’re seeing the victim, taking the statement, doing the Public Protection Notices and doing all of the safeguarding. We then work with Response where necessary to ensure the suspect is arrested and interviewed.”
Chief Inspector Amy Styles-Jones has responsibility for contact management at Nottinghamshire Police. “The team have settled really well into a new way of working and we’re seeing them make a positive impact, to victims of domestic abuse and to our front line teams by reducing some of the incidents they need to attend”, she said. “I would encourage all victims of domestic abuse to report to police. We take domestic abuse extremely seriously and we will do what we can, along with our partners to safeguard victims and survivors and robustly deal with perpetrators.”