DOMESTIC abuse in Bolton’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community is to be recorded for the first time from this week.

The ground breaking move comes after a pilot scheme was conducted by the City of Manchester division of Greater Manchester Police (GMP).

After work between GMP and its partner agencies a specific code – D66 - has been used to record reports of domestic abuse in the LGBT community since June.

More than 100 incidents were logged in the area and the scheme is now being rolled out across all areas of Greater Manchester, including Bolton.

GMP is the first police force in the country to officially record specific LGBT statistics. And It is hoped doing so will help police spot trends and patterns, and therefore tackle the problem and support victims in the most effective way possible.

Officers have also undertaken extra training to increase their understanding of the different needs of people who find themselves in domestic abuse situations.

Detective Chief Inspector Myra Ball from GMP said: “ This is ‘a huge step forward’ in tackling domestic abuse specifically within the LGBT community here in Greater Manchester, and shows our commitment to supporting all victims of domestic abuse in the best way possible, for them.

“Over the six month pilot in just one area of Greater Manchester we logged over 150 incidents of LGBT domestic abuse.

“This code will help us to identify and monitor LGBT domestic abuse incidents, which in turn will help us shape any processes needed to tackle it.”

She added that GMP and its multiagency partners - including the support service Independent Choices, LGBT Foundation and specialist trainers - had identified a lack of monitoring of LGBT domestic violence.

this led to the partnership funding a specialist independent domestic violence adviser (IDVA) at Independent Choices.

Greater Manchester Mayor and Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd added: “Domestic abuse is still very much a hidden issue in the LGBT community.

But this ground-breaking move is already helping to give a clearer picture of this abuse. Combined with the investment in specialist support services and working with the LGBT Foundation, Independent Choices and others to raise awareness of violence, abuse and controlling behaviour we are challenging stigma and encouraging more people to speak out and take that first step to get help and support.”

The change come just a year and a half after GMP made a pledge to adapt their system as part of its awareness raising campaign “There’s no pride in domestic abuse”.