Domestic abuse • Risk model

DASH police meaning

DASH — Domestic Abuse, Stalking, Harassment and Honour-Based Violence risk model. A quick, source-backed reference for the UK policing mnemonic DASH.

Short answer

27-question risk identification checklist completed with victims by first-response officers to grade domestic abuse risk (standard/medium/high) and drive MARAC referral. ACPO-accredited, rolled out across UK forces from March 2009. A true acronym for the abuse types covered, not a letter-per-step mnemonic.

Legal anchor: College of Policing DARA rationale 2022; ACPO/NPCC accreditation 2009

DASH
College of Policing DARA rationale 2022; ACPO/NPCC accreditation 2009
DDomestic (Abuse)
AAbuse
SStalking
HHarassment and Honour-based violence

When officers use it

27-question risk identification checklist completed with victims by first-response officers to grade domestic abuse risk (standard/medium/high) and drive MARAC referral. ACPO-accredited, rolled out across UK forces from March 2009. A true acronym for the abuse types covered, not a letter-per-step mnemonic.

Practical point: the mnemonic is a memory aid, not the test. Decisions still turn on the live facts and the underlying law (College of Policing DARA rationale 2022; ACPO/NPCC accreditation 2009) — record your rationale, not just the letters.

Variants and spellings

College includes 'Harassment'; SafeLives/dashriskchecklist.com omit it. NOTE: DARA (Domestic Abuse Risk Assessment) has been replacing DASH as the frontline police tool in many forces since 2022; SafeLives Dash remains the IDVA/MARAC multi-agency version.

Why Section includes this

Section is a fast UK police reference app for officers and student officers: offences, points to prove, PACE powers and the standard mnemonics in one offline place. Every entry in the app — including this one — was verified against the sources listed below.

What does DASH stand for?

D = Domestic, A = Abuse, S = Stalking, H = Harassment and Honour-based violence.

Is DASH a law?

No — it is a memory aid used in UK police training. The underlying framework is College of Policing DARA rationale 2022; ACPO/NPCC accreditation 2009.

Are there variants of DASH?

College includes 'Harassment'; SafeLives/dashriskchecklist.com omit it. NOTE: DARA (Domestic Abuse Risk Assessment) has been replacing DASH as the frontline police tool in many forces since 2022; SafeLives Dash remains the IDVA/MARAC multi-agency version.

Sources

THRIVE — THRIVE — initial risk assessment for calls for service / incident grading RARA — RARA — risk management options (domestic abuse / public protection) GOWISELY — Stop and search — information the officer must give (PACE s2 / Code A)

All 25 mnemonics, plus 1,200+ offences, offline

Section puts the mnemonics, points to prove and maximum penalties in your pocket — verified against legislation.gov.uk, built for on-shift lookup.

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