Demand in Fife for the Scottish Domestic Abuse Disclosure Scheme has skyrocketed by nearly 400 per cent since its rollout in 2015. 

The scheme gives people the right to ask about the background of their partner, and it allows concerned relatives and friends to request a domestic abuse background check as well. 

“The disclosure scheme heavily forms part of our safety net,” according to Craig Fraser, Detective Inspector for Fife’s Domestic Abuse Investigation Unit. 

“It’s a massive part of my job. Since 2015, there’s been an increase of almost 400 per cent volume for disclosure scheme requests.” 

Police staff review the reason for each request then check the background of the individual in question. A decision will then be made to release information if there is a risk.

“If I think we need to disclose the information, it will get sent to the forum to make the final decision. If there’s relevant history, we’ll go and tell the vulnerable partner about it and allow them to make an informed decision about what they want to do about the relationship,” DI Fraser explained.

Anyone can put in an application – a passerby, a concerned family member or friend, or a neighbour that can hear yelling through the walls. 

However, the scheme only allows police to disclose information about someone’s domestic abuse history. 

“Say somebody has been locked up 20 times for fighting outside a pub. We can’t disclose that. It has to be directly related to domestic abuse. We try to give someone the most information we can to make an informed decision,” said Graeme McLaren, Detective Sergeant for the Domestic Abuse Investigation Unit.

“We’ll give the vulnerable partner details of what the person has done, and sometimes what happens is they’ll say ‘well that’s happened to me.’ You can see the penny drop.” 

Each case is a matter of weighing the risks and benefits of a disclosure. Police can also choose to disclose charges of rape, assault, coercion, etc even if the individual was not convicted at court. 

“I can still say I want to disclose those charges because it’s still relevant. Even though they weren’t convicted, we still investigated and there may still be a risk there,” he said. 

“We always think it’s better for the person to know rather than not know.”

More information about the domestic abuse disclosure scheme is on the Police Scotland website.