be made if the real extent of the problem is to be understood.

Each of the different agencies dealing with domestic abuse in Bermuda gathers its data differently and so no comparisons can be made or trends monitored.

The Women's Resource Centre has urged hospitals, courts, Police, charities and women's groups to begin collating the material in the same way.

Attorney for the centre Susan Moore-Williams said: "We still speculate a lot in Bermuda because we don't keep proper data.

"Each agency keeps its data in a different fashion, so it cannot be linked up easily and comparisons drawn.

"I am appealing for there to be a general method worked out for data to be kept, so we can monitor trends. It would give us a better handle on the problems in Bermuda and how they should be addressed.'' She said each agency dealt with different aspects of the problem, but at the end of the day the issue was the same -- domestic abuse.

"While it would be simplistic to think that all the information we kept would be the same, some of it would overlap and be helpful to each other,'' she added. "The data could give a better sense of not only who the offenders are, but also the victims.'' A spokesman for Police said the Service was aware that changes needed to be made to the compilation of data in order for better statistics and comparisons to be drawn.

At the moment, all Police calls to households are logged under the domestic incident code, but that could include rows with neighbours, rent disputes and so on.

He said: "Some time ago we discussed taking domestic abuse calls and giving them their own code, so they would be able to be recorded separately and we could keep a better check on them.

"We know that it is something that could be improved and are looking at how it could be facilitated.'' HEALTH HTH