EACH month the police are identifying 20 relationships where a partner is at high risk from violence.

In the service’s quarterly report, figures show that domestic violence is a huge problem in Jersey, with nearly 650 incidents reported so far this year. The police say the figures do not represent a surge in domestic abuse, but rather the success of their ongoing campaign to encourage victims to report it. Police chief Graham Power says the figures represent ‘a largely unseen problem which is now coming out into the open’.

The police’s third performance report for 2008 shows that overall recorded crime is up 4.6% on the same period last year. They say that the success of the historical abuse inquiry has also encouraged more people to report cases of child abuse and neglect – which soared by more than 150% in the first nine months of the year. Those figures do not include cases arising from the historical abuse inquiry itself.

Between January and September 3,809 crimes were reported to the police – just two fewer than the same period in 2007.

Pictured: Police Chief Graham Power