In the first 24 hours after an incident of domestic violence there's a window of
opportunity to tackle the crime. This police force is trying to exploit that window before it closes.
If I hadn't got help that night I know I would have died. Maybe not that night but soon after.
Well it's about 04:30 in the morning, we've just had a call from police.
They're at a property looking into a suspected case of domestic violence.
Child protection, social services, they're on their way to the scene too. This fast response is part
of Iceland's innovative scheme to tackle domestic abuse. We're not allowed inside the property which
is just a few blocks away from here but we're hoping to get some news on what's going on soon.
In Iceland 22% of women experience violence in close relationships.
It started with mental abuse.
Putting me down and and then the last well I think four to five years it started to get physical.
Beating, choking, kicking. But I always went back in because after each beating
he always promised to never do that again.
But finally Sonia decided she needed help.
That night it was the worst beating I had endured. I was scared, I was thrown out of the
apartment and I ran outside and I ran to the parking lot to to hide and called for help.
Sonia got help thanks to a nationwide strategy in which all the authorities focus on the 24
hours after an attack. Specially trained detectives, social workers and child protection officers all
get to the scene as soon as possible. But why is the first 24 hours so important?
After 24 hours if you're not at the scene seeing it for ourselves it's very easy for an abuser to be in contact
with their victim and say, "You know this was your fault, what are you going to do now? Are you going
to leave me? Where are you going to live?" And that increases the chances for them to tell us in a
few days, "No, nothing happened, this was mistake, don't worry about it." So then the window closes.
Back near the scene of the reported attack all the teams have arrived.
There was one child in the home so when we arrived I talked to the child and she talked to the parent with the investigator and
I had to reassure the child that he was going to be safe.
As well as improving support, this approach helps to gather evidence.
I can go straight to working the case and it's often
better to get a statement immediately from people and as well it's in fresher memory.
Some Icelanders worried the strategy was invasive
and would put people off seeking help but police callouts
for domestic violence have more than doubled since 2014, although prosecution rates haven't
improved much.
Yes it's a cost for the system, yes we can do better in threat assessments
and we can take many more cases to court but we are catching more victims, we are helping more people
and we are sending a clear message that this is not going to be tolerated.
Sonja's ex-partner went to prison after police were called. Her family got financial help, emergency housing
and therapy.
You need all the support that you can get because when you are in this situation
your world seems upside down so I think it's really good.
And life has improved for Sonja and her children.
I finally saw my mom like actually happy and happy to do things other than just sleep and do nothing.
Yeah I think we're doing much better. The atmosphere in the house we lived in was
always like tense but now we feel like we're actually free.