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Nearly 600 police officers are to receive domestic abuse training in a bid to better protect vulnerable people.

From December, the charity SafeLives will be running the Domestic Abuse Matters (DA Matters) programme with 575 officers from Durham Police.

The course aims to help officers challenge inappropriate language and behaviours.

Supt Neil Fuller said it was a "crucial" training programme which would give officers a better understanding of domestic abuse.

In County Durham and Darlington, domestic abuse and violence accounts for almost 17% of all recorded crimes, with the force dealing with about 16,500 incidents a year.

Supt Fuller said such cases were among the most "complex investigations" the force dealt with and required the "utmost care and sensitivity".

"This is an opportunity for us to make a direct change to victims and survivors of domestic abuse, and forms part of our commitment to tackling violence against women and girls," he said.

The training programme covers topics such as coercive and controlling behaviour, understanding perpetrators, digital domestic abuse, as well as helping male and older victims.

Ellen Miller, chief executive of the charity said the course was a cultural change programme that been created with abuse survivors.

"Enabling first responders to give a victim the right support at the right time, leads to better outcomes and restores trust between survivors and police officers," she said.

She added that she wanted to ensure that police and the criminal justice response to domestic abuse was "as good as it could be."

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