INTRODUCTION
The scale of domestic abuse in the UK is staggering with the police recording a domestic abuse related call every 30 seconds. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) report that domestic abuse-related crimes represent 16.2% of all offences recorded by the police and that 73.5% of all victims are female. The statistics for the year ending 03/23 show that: there were an estimated 2,214,000 victims; the police recorded 889,918 domestic abuse-related crimes in England and Wales; 69,314 cases were referred to the CPS; 47,361 suspects were charged; there were 51,288 domestic-abuse related prosecutions, of which 39,198 resulted in convictions and 12,090 resulted in non-convictions. Notwithstanding these statistics, domestic abuse is a largely hidden crime that goes unreported to the police.
On Friday 20th September 2024 the Home Secretary announced the first steps in its mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade by introducing a package of new measures aimed at combating violence. These measures, which will be introduced as pilot schemes include “Raneem’s Law” which will see the embedding of domestic abuse specialists within 999 control rooms from early 2025, and new Domestic Abuse Protection Orders (DAPOs) which come into force in November 2024. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-measures-set-out-to-combat-violence-against-women-and-girls
RANEEM’S LAW
Raneem’s Law is named after and in memory of Raneem Oudeh (aged 22) and her mother Khaola Saleem (aged 49) who were murdered by Raneem’s ex-partner, Mr Tarin, in 2018. Raneem had called 999 fourteen times in the months leading up to her murder to report incidents of domestic abuse including threats to kill and stab her, violence and stalking. Raneem’s repeated calls for help went completely unanswered. The police failed to arrest or investigate her ex-partner. They did not log the reports correctly, did not follow up on them correctly, and did not assess them correctly. Raneem rang 999 four times on the night she and her mother were murdered. Despite Raneem telling the police that she and her mother had been assaulted by Mr Tarin, the police instructed her to go to her mother’s home and lock the door and they would visit the next day. Raneem was on the phone to the police when she and her mother were fatally stabbed. Despite repeated 999 calls and having a history of abuse, Raneem and her mother were left unprotected.
A three-week inquest into their deaths ended with the jury’s narrative conclusion finding that multiple police failures to investigate and safeguard had materially contributed to the deaths of Raneem and her mother. The jury also concluded that officers who dealt with some of the incidents had insufficient training and understanding of force domestic abuse policies. Five police officers were disciplined over the failures.
Evidence gathered by the IOPC indicated that “appropriate intelligence checks were not made by some of the attending officers when completing domestic abuse risk assessments; a risk assessment was downgraded in one instance without the reviewing officer probing the rationale for the earlier decision; and criminal investigations into Mr Tarin were closed down without considering further lines of enquiry … [West Midlands Police] failed to exercise powers available to them to protect and/or assist [Raneem] in the months before her murder. Evidence … gathered showed that despite Mr Tarin being suspected of two assaults on Ms Oudeh, he was not arrested or requested to attend a voluntary interview. The evidence also indicated that [West Midlands Police] could have provided further support and advice to [Raneem] around the available options, including consideration of a Domestic Violence Protection Order (DVPO) or Domestic Violence Protection Notice (DVPN) … [West Midlands Police] dealt with each incident in isolation and did not consider the cumulative effect and potential increase in the frequency and/or level of violence.”
EMBEDDING OF DOMESTIC ABUSE SPECIALISTS WITHIN 999 CONTROL ROOMS
Raneem’s Law introduces new specific measures aimed at improving and strengthening the police response to victims of domestic abuse. The introduction of Raneem’s Law includes a groundbreaking measure whereby domestic abuse specialists will be embedded in 999 control rooms; their task will be to better protect victims and support police officers on the ground to combat violence against women and girls. These specialists will assess risk in real time; they will advise on risk assessments and work with police officers to protect victims from harm by ensuring victims receive urgent help and are referred to specialist support as quickly as possible. The domestic abuse specialists will be supported and assisted by dedicated teams to help improve how the police respond to such calls, including using new technology such as rapid video response to respond more quickly.
The reform is aimed at ensuring that no warning sign is ignored and that victims’ cries for help are taken seriously and acted upon swiftly and effectively. The aim of the reform is to ensure that the failings in Raneem’s case do not happen again.
Raneem’s Law will be brought into effect through national guidance that the police will be required to follow. The government will fund a pilot in targeted police forces. The Home Office has not said how many, and which, police forces will be involved but the pilot will be rolled out in early 2025.
Nour Norris, Raneem’s aunt and Khaola’s sister, advocated and campaigned for these changes. She hopes that: “Raneem’s Law will ensure that domestic abuse specialists are present in 999 control rooms so victims’ calls for help are taken seriously and save lives by making sure no warnings signs are ignored, unlike in Raneem’s story … Raneem’s memory lives on in this law, and it means the world to know that her story will help save lives.”
Abigail Ampofo, interim CEO of Refuge broadly supports the announced measures but adds that “we need to see far more detail on how these plans will be implemented and how staff will be safely recruited, vetted and most importantly trained for this pilot scheme due to be implemented in early 2025.”
Freedom Charity states that it: “will continue to advocate for the full and effective implementation of Raneem’s Law. The deaths of Raneem Oudeh and her mother should never have happened, and the system must now ensure that such tragedies are never repeated. The law offers a real opportunity to change the landscape of domestic abuse in the UK, but it must be more than just a well-intentioned policy. It must be backed by proper training, funding, and support at every level of law enforcement. The lives of countless women depend on it. This is about more than just saving lives – restoring faith in the system and ensuring that every woman who reaches out for help knows she will be heard, protected, and supported.”
NEW ENHANCED DOMESTIC ABUSE PROTECTION ORDERS (DAPOs)
In a further step aimed at keeping women and girls safe, the new domestic abuse protection pilot starts in November 2024 at targeted police forces and courts across the country. The new DAPOs will build on the powers police already have to legally order abusers to keep away from victims. These new orders will go further and place tougher restrictions and tougher sanctions on abusers if they do not stay away from their victims. These include making it a legal requirement for abusers to inform the police of any change of name or address, imposing electronic tagging, and ordering assessments for behaviour change programmes. Unlike current orders, which can only be imposed for 28 days, there will be no maximum duration for these new orders. The Home Secretary states that “the orders will cover all forms of domestic abuse, including violence, stalking and controlling behaviour, and more agencies will be able to apply for them – not just the police and criminal courts but also family and civil courts, and third parties such as local authorities, charities and social services, with victims also able to apply directly for the order themselves.” Breach of an order will become a criminal offence, and anyone convicted of breaching an order faces up to five years in prison.
The Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales, Baroness Newlove, has welcomed the new measures but cautions: “I am only too aware police often fail to act on breaches of existing orders. I hope that alongside these orders will be a commitment to rigorous and effective enforcement of protective measures across the board. This is vital if we are to keep victims safe and give them the confidence to come forward and report their abusers.”
Refuge says it “is pleased the piloting of these DAPOs are finally getting up and running which will allow more tools for the police and other agencies to implement protections for survivors of domestic abuse. However, we know there are a myriad of issues when it comes to police using their powers to protect survivors and hold perpetrators to account, so often survivors tell us that the police don’t act on breaches of these orders, and they are often worth ‘little more than the paper they are written on’. We have also seen a very low uptake by forces nationwide to issue current protective orders available, with a Centre for Women’s Justice super complaint showing Domestic Violence Protection Orders (DVPOs) are obtained on average in only 1% of domestic abuse crimes. For DAPOs to work and provide survivors with real protections from abusers we need a real sea change in internal policing culture and the police forces response to domestic abuse overall. The focus needs to be on quality and mandatory training for all officers on how to issue and monitor these orders, as well as specialist training around the dynamics of domestic abuse. Without correct resourcing of trained and upskilled police officers, these protective orders will be worth nothing to women and their children experiencing domestic abuse.”
CONCLUSION
The Home Secretary’s announcement regarding the piloting of Domestic Abuse Specialists within 999 control rooms and the new DAPOs is clearly to be welcomed, as is the desire to ensure consistently better outcomes for victims of domestic abuse. However, the new responses to domestic abuse are unlikely to be effective unless they are accompanied by, inter alia: ongoing commitment and support from government and relevant agencies including the police; adequate funding; specialist recruitment and training; adequate staffing levels; the effective use and enforcement of protective orders; and the rolling out of these measures to all 999 call centres and police forces nationwide.
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