Police in Northern Ireland made more than 5,000 arrests during the past three years under new legislation aimed at tackling violence against women and girls.
The PSNI says it dealt with a call about domestic abuse on average every 17 minutes last year.
Northern Ireland is regarded as one of the most dangerous places in Europe for women, with 28 murdered by partners, former partners or family members during the past five years.
The latest victim was Vanessa Whyte, a veterinary surgeon originally from Co Clare who was shot dead by her husband along with her children, 13-year-old Sara and 14-year-old James Rutledge, at their home in Co Fermanagh in July.
Her husband, Ian Rutledge, died five days later from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Details of the number of arrests made were revealed as the PSNI today marks the third anniversary of an action plan to combat Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG).
In the three year period up to the end of last month there were 5,042 arrests under new legislation covering domestic abuse, stalking and non-fatal strangulation.
On average, there were 84 arrests each month for the domestic abuse offence, 19 for the offences of stalking and threatening and abusive behaviour, and 76 each month for non-fatal strangulation.
In the 12 months up to the end of July, police recorded 21,729 offences classified as Violence Against Women and Girls, down 4% on the previous year.
The scale of domestic violence is much higher than official figures suggest as it is known that many women do not report abuse.
"There's a lot more work to do, but we're absolutely committed, all of our officers and staff are absolutely committed to this action plan to tackle violence against women and girls," says Detective Chief Inspector Leah Crothers of the PSNI's Public Protection Branch.
"Some of the violence is brutal, really tragic circumstances. What I would say to everyone is that if you see it we need to call it out, this is a societal issue, it can't just be the alone it needs to be all our partners as well and the community acting together to tackle this," she added.
A woman violently assaulted by her boyfriend in March 2021 has spoken in support of the campaign.
Now 24, Sophie, not her real name, was a student at Queen's University when she met Fearghall Mulgrew, a student at another university, on the popular online dating site Tinder in February 2021.
She liked him and they had been in a relationship for about a month before she agreed to go to his house on the night of 14 March 2021.
Mulgrew had told her he wanted to have rough sex.
"I thought okay, if that's what he wants to do, because I wanted him to like me," she recalls.
There had been no warning signs that Mulgrew had violent tendencies until that night.
"He was just from the outset very violent," she explains.
"He slapped me, he bit me in my face, in my mouth, on my neck. He bit me in quite an intimate area, and wouldn't let go until I kicked him off me," she added.
When she pleaded with him to stop, he laughed.
"I was definitely powerless. When you think all I have to do is say stop and then that's not working. I couldn't have fought him.
"I was worried because I didn't know how far it would go," she said.
Crying and in pain, Sophie went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror, and was horrified.
"I looked beat up. I had a black strip across my neck, I had bites all up my face. I was crying, I said to him look what you've done, look at me, and he just laughed. It was almost like he was proud of it," she added.
Her ordeal lasted 40 minutes to an hour.
When Mulgrew fell asleep she went to the kitchen and called a friend who sent her money for a taxi. She then went to hospital to have injuries treated.
In February last year at Belfast Crown Court, 26-year-old Fearghall Mulgrew from Stewartstown in Co Tyrone was sentenced to 22 months, with eight months to be spent in custody, after pleading guilty to sexual and physical assault. He will be on the sex offenders register for ten years.
Sophie has urged other women and young girls who are the victims of sexual assault to come forward and contact the police.
"It's changed everything for me, it's made such an impact on my life, it's like a huge weight off my shoulders, it's helped me to take steps to tackle what I had gone through," she said.
"This incident has impacted my ability to form romantic relationships. I can't be intimate with partners without a constant reminder of what happened, it's hard not to think of it.
"I just don't think it's right that someone should have to go through that, and they won't be held accountable for it," she added.
"I think it's so important that we teach young boys that if you do this, there is going to be repercussions and it isn't going to be let go of."
Sarah Mason, chief executive officer of the Women' s Aid Federation Northern Ireland, which helped the PSNI draw up the strategy, has praised the police for its success to date.
"What we've seen in the last three years running alongside the action plan is more police training, we've been working with them, delivering training," Ms Mason said.
She also praised legislation introduced during the past three years targeting domestic abuse, stalking and no-fatal strangulation.
But the Federation is concerned that a lack of resources can hinder response times.
"The police are the first to admit that they don't have enough resources and that will have an impact on their response to domestic abuse and that is a big issue," she said.
"The police attending a serious domestic violence incident can potentially save a life and they can hold the perpetrator of a crime to account so I'm the biggest supporter of encouraging women to phone. It's important to get that message out there," she added.
The PSNI acknowledges that resourcing is an issue, but says tackling domestic violence and abuse is a priority.
Police are also concerned about the level of under-reporting of domestic violence, with many victims too frightened to come forward.
"By its very nature most abuse happens within the homes so what I would say is that if you are a victim of abuse in no matter what form that abuse takes, whether it be physical, sexual, emotional, call the police, tell us so that we can actually act upon and we can keep you safe," says Detective Chief Inspector Crothers.
"Even with our resourcing issues domestic abuse is our key priority, we will always tackle domestic abuse," she added.
