Video system offers faster help to victims of domestic abuse

THE trial of a new video system designed to help police deal with non-urgent domestic abuse calls has shown a drop in response times from around 33 hours to approximately three minutes.

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The Rapid Video Response system (RVR), developed with the help of Kent Police, lets victims talk to officers via video link, instead of waiting for an in-person visit.

RVR was piloted with 517 domestic abuse victims.

When they called police at times when there was “no immediate threat”, police could offer a video call with a specially trained officer, who could talk to the victim, check on their safety, and give advice, using a secure video link.