Women will be given details of the past of violent partners under a radical new police scheme to tackle domestic abuse.
The move by Essex Police comes after the deaths of nine people in domestic violence homicides in the county in the last four years.
The force’s new chief constable Steve Kavanagh announced that he plans to bring in a “dare to share” policy in which women can ask for information on a new or existing partner’s violent background.
Essex Police’s record on dealing with domestic abuse is strongly criticised today in a watchdog report.
The HM Inspectorate of Constabulary found officers provide appropriate protection and support of victims but said the overall approach to dealing with victims is fragmented.
Failures in Essex Police’s handling of reports of abuse were highlighted by the Independent Police Complaints Commission following the murders of three women and a child
in domestic violence cases between 2008 and 2011. Since then five more women have been killed by partners up to September last year.
The findings came as the family of Maria Stubbings, one of the victims, renewed calls for a public inquiry into domestic violence.
Ms Stubbings, a 50-year-old mother of two from Chelmsford, was strangled with a dog lead in 2008 by a partner who also killed a previous girlfriend.
Today Mr Kavanagh said he wanted Essex to bring in a “dare to share” policy saying: “It means women who are entering into relationships with an individual they have concerns about will be able to ring the police to find out about them.”
He said police were also pursuing an “Achilles heel” strategy in which perpetrators of domestic violence are targeted for other offences, if their partners are too frightened to give evidence against them.
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The force has drawn up a hit list of of the top 10 offenders and plans to pursue them for other crimes or work with prosecutors to charge them without the evidence of victims.
The HMIC said Essex Police should review the way they prioritise domestic abuse incidents so that urgent cases were properly prioritised and improve officers and staff understanding of domestic violence.
It also said the force should include a question for staff handling 999 calls on how frightened a caller feels so they could better assess abuse cases.
