PSNI Welcomes New Domestic And Sexual Abuse Strategy

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has expressed its support for the newly published Department of Justice Domestic and Sexual Abuse Strategy.

Detective Superintendent Lindsay Fisher, Head of the PSNI's Public Protection Branch, emphasised the significance of this strategy as a collaborative effort to enhance the experiences of victims within the criminal justice system and access to specialist support across Northern Ireland.

"This strategy represents a crucial step forward in our ongoing commitment to providing improved services and greater protection for victims of domestic and sexual abuse," Fisher stated. "By working together, we aim to bring more offenders to justice and ensure that victims receive the support they need to recover."

Domestic and sexual abuse cases constitute a significant portion of the crimes reported to the PSNI, accounting for 22% of all incidents. Fisher acknowledged the devastating impact these crimes have on victims' lives, often resulting in long-term consequences. DS Fisher continued: "The reality in Northern Ireland is that we are seeing too many repeat offences; repeat victims and offenders. We hope that this strategy provides us with the necessary tools and resources to begin to explore viable intervention and rehabilitation options to help tackle this.

"We have made significant progress in our learning, with the introduction of Domestic Homicide reviews and have more tools in our armoury now with new legislation but we still have a ways to go.

"We are behind in our societal approach to getting to the root causes of these crimes. This is why we have welcomed the partnership approach to developing this strategy and hope it is the beginning of Northern Ireland's journey in robustly tackling them head on."

The DSA Strategy and three-year action plan can be found in full here - Domestic and Sexual Abuse Strategy and Performance Framework 2024 - 2031 | Department of Health