The police in Stockholm are carrying out the operation “Stop hitting” to prevent violence in intimate relationships. And the outreach and prevention method has previously produced good results. – In 80 percent of proven cases, the conversations have led to an end to the violence, says Christer Tessman, group leader at BOPS. Men’s violence against women is a major social problem. Around 30,000 cases of assault against women are reported to the police each year. A majority of men’s violence against women is directed at their own girlfriend or wife. Every year around 17 women are murdered by a man they have or have had a romantic relationship with. In Stockholm County, nearly 5,000 reports of intimate partner violence are reported each year, according to statistics from the Crime Prevention Council. But the number of darkness is large. In order to detect and intervene against more violent crimes in the home, the City Police in Stockholm is now carrying out for the second time the operation “Stop hitting”, which is ongoing during the coming week. New working methods During the operation, new working methods are tested through, for example, collaboration between different parts of the police organization. The effort spans the external and internal operations, where the internal one focuses on existing investigations of that crime, while the external one deals with reconnaissance and, for example, building a case around previously suspected persons. They also try to meet and talk to suspected threat actors through mediators who have risk-reducing talks with them. – The authority wants us to work in this line, that we bring this in as a new way of working. So this week is also about learning new work methods, taking lessons and developing this so that we can incorporate it into everyday work, says operations leader Johann Danielsson. The response from the perpetrators The aim must always be to reduce the threat to the victim and an important aspect to take into account is whether approaching a threat actor can expose the threatened party to an increased risk of violence. But in the risk-reducing conversations, you gain knowledge about the threat actors’ thoughts, feelings and how their behavior affects the risks for the vulnerable women. And contrary to what one might think, the response from threat actors has been positive, says Christer Tessman, who is group manager at Crime Victims and Personal Security Operations (BOPS). – Only in isolated cases does the perpetrator say, no thank you, I’m interested, but in other cases, work is then started. Because they themselves have a need to be seen, heard and confirmed. To be able to give my version of what my life looks like and how life should look like going forward. Positive prognosis The “Stop beating” initiative is now intensively going on for a week and will then be evaluated. But the prognosis is positive. The system of risk-reducing talks has so far been strongly positive and in 80 percent of proven cases, the talks have led to the end of the violence in the relationship, says Tessman. The ambition is that the method of wider outreach and preventive work can eventually be established within the entire authority as part of the daily work and not only during special work weeks. But so far there are no broader regulations regarding when this should take place.
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