In the past, perpetrators continued to beat their spouses once the police left, as they believed it was a family problem rather than police business, he said.
In August, the station set up a domestic violence intervention center staffed by Shenghuayuan residents' committee that could be contacted through the 110 emergency hotline.
"We realized that police can only step in when a victim dials 110, but a lot of women choose to suffer in silence, so we believe it's better to involve the neighborhood committees as they are more familiar with the more than 3,700 households there," Lu said.
"In our daily work, we often confront cases of violence at home, but traditional measures of persuasion and education did not make a big difference," said Zhou Fengmei, director of the residents' committee. "But thanks to the center, we can go to mediate with the police, and together we keep records for domestic violence cases and conduct home visits regularly. The situation is improving."
Record number of hopefuls sit annual civil service exam