President Denise Houghton welcomed forty-nine members and six guests to the Garden Rooms at Tennants for our meeting on November 21st.
After lunch Diane Smith NYP PCSO Catterick Garrison, Elizabeth Pritchard-Jenkins NYP Domestic Abuse Co-Ordinator Northallerton and Rebecca Hodson IDAS (Independent Domestic Abuse Services) gave a talk about how North Yorkshire Police deal with domestic incidents from the start to maintaining support afterwards and a presentation on the signs and indicators of domestic abuse.
Diane Smith is a Police Community Support Officer from the Neighbourhood Police Team at Catterick Garrison and has worked in Richmondshire for 21 years. Neighbourhood Policing Teams deal with low level incidents which cover an array of topics, however as extra training Diane chose to train in Domestic Abuse and to use her training to offer support to victims of Domestic Abuse and Violence in the area where she works.
Domestic Abuse is a topic that people find very difficult to discuss, but it is one that North Yorkshire Police takes very seriously and can affect both men and women.
Diane and Elizabeth covered how domestic abuse was defined, how to recognise controlling and coercive behaviour, the cycle of abuse and Clare’s Law. Rebecca described how IDAS is now the leading specialist domestic abuse charity in Yorkshire. One in four women and one in six men experience domestic abuse, with one woman killed every three to four days as a result. All new Police trainees receive domestic abuse training and this is now being rolled out to all NYP Officers. Angela Batty gave the vote of thanks for a very thought provoking presentation.
Diane plans to link in with some community groups up the Dale and if anyone is interested in the delivery of an informative session on Domestic Abuse to please contact her direct at: diane.smith@northyorkshire.police.uk
The next meeting is on December 19th when Shannon Acton from Feather and Fern Florist will give us a Christmas Flower Demonstration. New members and guests are always very welcome, more information can be found on our website www.leyburnlunchclub.co.uk.
