An incident of domestic violence was reported every seven minutes on average in West Yorkshire last year.
Domestic abuse makes up one in six crimes in the county - with a shocking 71,387 domestic abuse-related incidents reported to West Yorkshire Police in 2018/19, according to date from the Office for National Statistics (ONS);.
That equates to a stunning one every 7.4 minutes.
The figures have been revealed in the same week West Yorkshire Police has launched its new campaign aimed at people who abuse their partners.
The ‘It’s in your hands’ campaign is targeted at both men and women who are concerned about their behaviour, from physical violence to controlling tendencies.
The force says there is still time to change - and support available to do it.
West Yorkshire has one of the highest rates of domestic abuse in England and Wales - there were 31 incidents or offences for every 1,000 people in the area, compared to 22 per 1,000 people nationwide.
For every 100 domestic abuse-related crimes reported to West Yorkshire police last year, there were just 27 arrests - this compares to a rate of 32 arrests for every 100 crimes across England and Wales as a whole.
Catherine Hankinson, West Yorkshire Police's Assistant Chief Constable, said: “We do a lot of work to encourage those affected by domestic abuse to break the cycle and seek help. Our message with this campaign is that ultimately it is in the perpetrators’ hands and their hands only to change their behaviour for good.
“There are organisations across West Yorkshire who are completely independent of the police who help both men and women to address the root causes of their violent or controlling behaviour and change their mind-set.
"While they do work with people who have been arrested, it doesn’t need to get to that stage and we are encouraging people to make the call now before it gets that far.
“Families can be torn apart by domestic abuse but we also know a lot of people want to do what they can to keep their family together.
"Ultimately, the earlier that you get help to understand and change the way you behave, the better chance you have of fixing your relationship with your partner and protecting any children in your household.”
As well as criminal proceedings, police in West Yorkshire were also involved in other legal routes for tackling domestic abuse incidents.
The police applied for 329 domestic violence protection notices (DVPN). Of these 288 were granted by a superintendent.
A DVPN is an emergency non-molestation and eviction notice which can be issued by the police to a perpetrator, when attending to a domestic abuse incident.
A DVPN can prevent the perpetrator from returning to a residence and from having contact with the victim for up to 28 days.
The Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (known as Clare’s Law) is another measure aimed at trying to protect potential victims of domestic abuse.
It allows someone to ask the police about a partner’s previous history of domestic violence or violent acts, and allows police to proactively disclose information in some circumstances.
Last year, West Yorkshire police made 269 proactive disclosures, and made 85 disclosures in response to questions from individuals about their partners, 33% of all applications.
Sandra Horley CBE, Chief Executive of the national domestic abuse charity Refuge said: “These statistics should serve as a serious wake-up call to the future Government that domestic abuse is a major crime in this country and must be top of the political agenda.
“It is clear that the likelihood of women and girls experiencing domestic abuse at some point in their lives is increasing.
“This is devastating news given this time last year we knew 1 in 4 women would experience domestic abuse – this figure is edging towards 1 in 3.”
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