Clare's Law: 'Catastrophic' Wiltshire Police failure led to three people being harmed
'Catastrophic failures' with Wiltshire Police's domestic violence scheme led to at least two people being harmed.
The force identified 'critical failures' under the Clare’s Law scheme, which allows the police to disclose information to a victim or potential victim of domestic abuse about their partner or ex-partner's violent or abusive behaviour.
An urgent review has been carried out after concerns were raised over disclosures made under the scheme by one member of Wiltshire Police, who has been suspended.
Wiltshire Police reviewed every application made to the Clare's Law team between April 2015 and August 2023 – amassing to a total of 3,582 applications.
On Thursday 11 January the force identified 25 failures, two of which lead to people being harmed. However, on Friday 12 January chief constable Catherine Roper admitted another incident had been risen where someone had come to harm.
She said: "“Yesterday, I updated our communities on the progress of our urgent review of 3,582 Clare’s Law applications.
“After this announcement was made, I was informed of an additional incident where a potential failure in our service towards the end of 2023 may have contributed to another person being harmed."
There were also several instances where information should have been disclosed but this did not happen, or inadequate research was carried out.
Chief Constable Catherine Roper said: “I was clear when I announced our review in October – this is a catastrophic service failure.
“We let many people down and we now know that our failures may have contributed to at least two people being harmed.
“I am so sorry – I remain appalled that this ever happened and it rightly sent shockwaves throughout our organisation.
“From the moment this came to light, I ensured dedicated resources were put in place to work around the clock to understand where we are failed, who might be at risk as a result of these failures and the urgent action we needed to take.
“The independent IOPC investigation is continuing, and we remain in weekly dialogue with them to discuss further referrals, assist them with their independent investigation and to ensure the right level of scrutiny continues to be applied to the work we are undertaking.
“The completion of 3,582 risk assessments reassures me that we are now able to identify the people who require our immediate support.
“However, I appreciate that this is completion of work which our communities rightly expected us to have done properly the first time around.
“I know we have badly let you down, but I ask again for your trust and urge you to come forward if you have any concerns or information regarding people at risk of domestic abuse.
“We have put more scrutiny in place than we’ve ever had into both the ongoing review but also the team who are assessing new Clare’s Law applications.
“I will continue to keep you updated on this matter.”
Wiltshire Police say the force has contacted a significant proportion of the people identified as requiring immediate contact.
In total, 45 members of staff have been moved into the review team.
Advice and support links:
Police are reminding people that they can report incidents via 101, online or by calling 999 in an emergency.
If someone wants to make a report online, the force will talk people through how to delete it from their web history so it can’t be traced.
Calling 999 and pressing 55 will automatically put calls through to the police if someone is unable to speak.
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