The Hertfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner has approved a significant investment in a specialist unit which tackles domestic abuse.

Over the past 12 months £2.1m has been invested including a recent decision to spend a further £700,000 to help bolster the Domestic Abuse Investigation and Safeguarding Unit. It brings the total number of officers and staff working within the dedicated unit– known as DAISU (Domestic Abuse Investigation and Safeguarding Unit) – to 70 to help deal with the increased demand.

DAISU was established in January 2016 and domestic abuse now accounts for over 13% of all recorded crime, an increase of nearly 3% on last year’s figures.

Since being elected in 2012, David Lloyd [the Police and Crime Commissioner for Hertfordshire] has made tackling domestic violence a priority. He commissioned a review into the domestic abuse service last year, resulting in a new joined up approach and strategy for all agencies.

“Domestic abuse is a hateful crime which shatters lives,” he said. “More victims are coming forward which hopefully shows the confidence they have in the way we deal with their cases.”

“However there are many more cases which go unreported and increasing the size of our investigation team will help us to do more to tackle those who abuse the people closest to them.”

The DAISU has dealt with a staggering 10,587 crimes since its launch in January.

Assistant Chief Constable Bill Jephson said: “Safeguarding the vulnerable remains our top priority and the expertise of police officers and staff based within DAISU has improved our ability to effectively respond to the complexity of domestic abuse and bring offenders to justice.”

Every day Hertfordshire’s frontline officers deal with an average of 50 domestic violence cases and in 2014-15 accounted for a quarter of custody detentions.

The DAISU team work seven days a week from 7am to 11pm, and this funding will help increase the ability of the unit to investigate even more cases of abuse.