North Wales Police can reveal that Operation Serenity, a campaign to raise awareness of domestic abuse, which ran during the 2010 World Cup, proved a success.
During the four games when England played in the tournament, recorded domestic abuse offences fell in North Wales. The force received 277 calls relating to domestic abuse compared to 293 for the same period last year.
However on Sunday June 27 the day England exited the World Cup, after losing 4-1 to Germany, statistics have revealed that 45 reports of domestic violence were received compared to 25 over the same period the previous year.
North Wales Police and its partners launched Operation Serenity to protect victims and their families and target those perpetrators who where identified as high risk. Extra police resources were on duty at key match times, supported by domestic abuse specialists from partner agencies.
The campaign used a specific action plan to target serial offenders and gave added protection and support to victims.
Detective Chief Inspector Wayne Jones said: “England’s final game was played on a Sunday afternoon when a lot of people would have been off from work. It was also one of the warmest days of the year and offered the opportunity for more people to drink and socialise.”
“The campaign was well supported by our partner agencies who gave a great deal of assistance in supporting victims. Police officers visited serial perpetrators prior to matches and I have no doubt this led to the overall reduction in incidents. The campaign also reinforced our all year message that domestic abuse in any of its forms is not acceptable.”
ACC Gareth Pritchard added: “A minority of people do use sporting occasions to consume too much alcohol and abuse their partner or someone they live with. We encourage responsible drinking but we will deal with anyone who commits domestic abuse.”
“Our officers will take a firm stance in dealing with offenders at all times and during the tournament we were even more robust in our response with additional measures in place.”
“We recognise domestic abuse takes many forms not just physical assault but can include emotional, sexual, verbal and psychological abuse too.”
“We urge anyone who is a victim of any type of domestic abuse to come forward and report it. Together with our partners we will support them and help them. Those people, who do bully, threaten and assault will be dealt with quickly and firmly and they will be arrested and held to account for what they have done.”
Anyone who is subjected to domestic abuse or who knows someone who is suffering from this sort of crime can call North Wales Police on 101 or 0845 6071001 (Welsh language line) 0845 6071002 (English language line). Alternatively the Wales Domestic Abuse Helpline – 0800 8010800 (24 hours).
