Contact us for more information

Download the police self-evaluation tool

Download the OE APVA document

Download Police Cross Border Notifications

Watch the Police Training video

View the guide to implementing Operation Encompass

Download the OE Early Years Information Sharing document

Download the OE Information Sharing Platform document

Police duties and responsibilities

• The appropriate implementation of Operation Encompass forms a key aspect of a forces’ response to children being recognised as victims of domestic abuse in their own right. (See Operation Encompass Children’s Victim Support Code and accompanying handbook.)
• Each force should have an Operation Encompass policy. For information about the policy contact info@opertationencompass.org
• All frontline officers within the force should be fully trained in Operation Encompass - its purpose, when to apply it and how to apply it correctly.
• The force should ensure that Operation Encompass notifications are only shared with the appropriately trained Key Adults within the educational/early years setting (Safeguarding Lead and their Deputy). The required training is provided through the free National Online Operation Encompass Key Adult Training, accessed through this website.

        The Operation Encompass notification should include:

• The name and date of birth of any child from that educational setting who is related to any adult involved in the incident.
• The relationship of the child to the adult victim and to the perpetrator
• The police reference number.
• The location, time and date of the incident.
• If the children were present and if so where (notifications should be shared even if the child was not present at this particular incident).
• The Voice of the child
• If the child was spoken to what they said and if this conversation was in the presence of another adult or just with the police officer.

• The Context, the circumstances of the event: This is the crucial part where officers consider what an educational setting needs to know about the child’s living experience, about this incident that they are attending so that they can safely, securely and compassionately support the child in their care without putting them at any greater risk or accidentally retraumatising them through actions or words:

• (See  Guidance and Arrangements for the Implementation of Operation Encompass )

For further information and support please contact info@operationencompass.org 

A proven partnership

The partnership between Operation Encompass and Devon and Cornwall Police has proven to be an essential element for the safeguarding of children and young people experiencing domestic abuse.

Children exposed to domestic abuse are amongst the most vulnerable in our society, often harmed physically, emotionally, and psychologically.

Having been exposed to domestic violence, a child goes to school the next day often requiring urgent emotional help and assurance but unable to express what they have witnessed and the support they need.

Operation Encompass is vital to ensuring the true partnership required to safeguard these children, ensuring that police and schools deliver the necessary support at the right time. This is in the hours immediately after exposure to the incident and that information must be available in schools at the right time in order to help children and young people overcome the traumatic events they have been exposed to.

If there is a true intention to help children exposed to domestic abuse then Operation Encompass is a proven approach to ensure the protection of our children.

Chief Constable, Devon and Cornwall Police