Now don't get me wrong, I am all too willing to provide you with value for money. You may even have read about some of my "employers" getting value for money, but the government, and as a result the Police, really do push things too far to get detections

Every Police Force across the country have been beaten across the head about the way domestic violence is dealt with and rightly so. Some instances of domestic violence are horrendous and if the others are not yet, they could well be. But what about the ones that are not that serious and are simply arguments between two partners with no serious violence. Let me give you a real life example that a colleague of mine dealt with and will always stick in my mind:

Two alcoholics are arguing about who is going to take the pet out for the afternoon walk. One gets annoyed and throws a packet of cigarettes at the other hitting them on the arm. The one that gets hit calls the Police who duly arrive and take details. Whilst doing so they state they were hit by the others cigarettes when they threw them. The officers in attendance decide that to comply with force policy, they arrest the perpetrator for common assault and take him to the station. They then spend about 1 and a half hours waiting for the solicitor to arrive and consult with their client. They go into interview and he denies the offence

The officers then have to consult with CPS before the suspect is released by completing a file and getting a decision from CPS. In this case there are no charges. They give him a lift home and they are all loved up again

The whole process has taken about 4 or 5 hours for no prosecution to take place and another negative statistic to add to the prosecution rate, and the Police officer was off the street for most of their shift. Value for money? Probably for the solicitor and the "victim" but have the real victims received value for money

Domestic violence is the scourge of society and anyone that is subject to it lives in fear all their lives. I am a firm believer that the real victims never come to notice until it is either too late, or they receive horrendous injuries. These are the people we should be helping but because we never seem to hear about them until its too late we can never do that. I have some very real examples of such abuse that goes unreported for years but this is not the place to discuss it - Sorry!

Oh and by the way - The pet that was being argued about? It was a cat!! (true story)