�Horrific� statistic of 48,000 reported incidents in 2006

STRATHCLYDE'S new police chief has called for a zero tolerance approach to domestic violence. Stephen House, who became the chief constable of Scotland's largest police force last month, said he wanted to use his experience south of the Border to deal with the problem more rigorously.

The latest figures show violence against women in the home is at an all-time high. A 7% rise in abuse in Scotland took the total number of recorded incidents above 48,000 last year, but a victim survey has revealed the true number could be five times higher.

Describing the statistics in the west of Scotland as "horrific", House voiced his support for early intervention by police officers trained to spot abuse, since his force dealt with many incidents where victims were too scared to pursue prosecution.

"What we want are officers to turn up motivated to look for the evidence, to be suspicious," he said. "I'm looking for a very rigorous approach. We will put people into custody if violence is there. It's an intractable problem, but one we've got to grapple with."

One in 10 women is a victim at some point in their lives, and House said it was not unusual for a victim to suffer up to 20 attacks before coming forward.

"Some people still think it's acceptable to be treated this way. Clearly, it's not. Research shows the cycles accelerate and get more violent until there's a climax. In some cases, the climax can be murder. If we can spot the cycle, we can insert ourselves and hopefully break the cycle."

House also wanted a change in how police work with social services, so the offender - not the victim - would be separated from the family unit. He said there were disadvantages to putting those in danger in women's refuges, and raised the possibility of working with potential offenders.

"We actually punish the victim to take them away from their homes, family, friends and support network.

"If we can have a choice to take the man out instead, we can do that. Initiatives elsewhere have taken the offender out. Even if there's not a prosecution, we broker an arrangement whereby the husband is subject to counselling. I'll be looking to see if we can start something like that with the voluntary sector."

House also believes there is a greater role for neighbours to play. Neighbourhood "cocoon" projects, adopted in Staffordshire while he was assistant chief constable there, helped build cases from evidence gathered by a community when officers did not get to an incident in time.

The chief constable also recommended rolling out simple practical measures such as making sure anyone at risk has an alarm and access to a phone on every floor of their home.

"Much of this is happening somewhere in Strathclyde. It's a case of finding the best things we're doing and spreading it everywhere, so the best practice becomes the standard response."

Despite welcoming House's commitment, women's groups urged caution over programmes in England in which the focus is on the offender. Research by Women's Aid show fewer than two-thirds of perpetrators completed counselling, and women are often manipulated into having unrealistic expectations of how much their partner has changed.

Lily Greenan, manager of Scottish Women's Aid, said: "We're pleased to see the new chief constable is as committed to tackling domestic abuse as his predecessor and we look forward to working with him in looking at new and innovative ways of tackling domestic abuse."

She added: "The safety of women and children must be central to any scheme to tackle domestic abuse, including those that work with perpetrators."

The new chief constable said domestic abuse was part of the west of Scotland's problem with drink-related violence, and promised to take a tough approach in the short-term, as well as work towards long-term cultural change.

"It's all connected. If you use violence, you'll use it in the pub, on the buses, in the taxi, when your dinner should be ready and it's not," he said. "The public are patient with the police, but they're not going to wait 30 years for us to fix things."