New domestic abuse helpline for Fleet residents introduced by Hart Community Safety Partnership

A new telephone helpline for sufferers

of domestic abuse has been launched by the Hart Community Safety

Partnership.

The move comes after member of Taking

Steps, a support group for male and female sufferers of domestic

abuse, enquired about a local telephone service that gave out advice

and told callers what services would be available to them.

Resources available to those who call

will be telephone numbers for local support groups and the police

domestic abuse unit as well as national numbers that will get them to

speak to someone directly in person.

“Having a local number will offer

victims of domestic abuse the reassurance that their situation will

be supported at a local level,” said Cllr Nippy Singh, Hart

District Council’s Cabinet Member for Community Safety and

Environmental Health.

The Hart district saw the police

respond to four hundred incidents last year but many more cases go

unreported; either because the victim is too scared to take action or

because they feel that there is no one who can help them.

The helpline is 01252 774495. If you

are in immediate danger call 999.

What else do you think the local

community can do to help sufferers of domestic abuse? Leave a comment

below with your thoughts but please bear in mind the sensitivity of

the issue when discussing.