Wigan gets new domestic violence car for faster response

Wigan will get its own domestic abuse response vehicle. An Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVA) car has been introduced to help tackle perpetrators of domestic abuse immediately.

Response cars - funded by Wigan Council in partnership with the NHS - are designed to attend to incidents and help victims as they are reported.

The Place and Community Safety Partnership, a multi-agency group made up of key partners such as Wigan Council, created the approach to tackle domestic abuse (DA) and by Chief Inspector Clare Anderson and Wigan Council’s Domestic Abuse Operational Manager, Lindsey Saunders.

Try MEN Premium for FREE by clicking here for no ads, fun puzzles and brilliant new features.

The collaboration between Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and partnerships now hopes to ensure that having DA cars on patrol will help reduce devastating consequences for victims if it goes unspoken or unseen. From July 2023, the cars have been in full action and through working as a team can ensure further safety of victims and their loved ones.

Chief Inspector Clare Anderson of GMP’s Wigan District said: “In Wigan we are always looking at new and innovative ways we can work together across the district, the force and with our partners, and a lot of our initiatives would not have been made possible without them.

"In the past, we have introduced similar strategies, exemplified by the mental health car pairing officers with mental health specialists. Its successful trial here led to its adoption across the force, and I sincerely hope that this DA car will receive lots of positive outcomes and interventions resulting in a force wide adoption in the future.

"The DA cars are now in action and having that balance of both a police