Register among proposals put forward to deal with serial perpetrators of abuse against women and girls

Police chiefs have proposed a domestic violence register to track an estimated 25,000 men in England and Wales who move from one relationship to another after serially abusing their partners.

The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) is also pressing for the creation of a "course of conduct" offence that would enable prosecutions to be brought against serial offenders even if the evidence is insufficient in each individual case.

The police say a register of serial abusers would enable new partners and others at risk of violence to be told of a man's history. Controversially, this could include information short of convictions, including a pattern of unproven allegations by different women.

The register of serial domestic violence abusers would differ from the sex offenders' register in that conviction alone would not automatically lead to inclusion. Decisions about disclosure to potential victims would be taken by a multi-agency panel that would assess the risks in each case.

The package of police proposals to deal with serial perpetrators of violence against women and girls was drawn up in response to a request in March from Jacqui Smith, when she was home secretary.

A policing, crime and security bill is expected to include another proposal from the Acpo review group, for the introduction of domestic violence protection orders, which would ban a suspected violent partner from returning to the family home or having any contact for 14 days.

Brian Moore, the chief constable of Wiltshire, who carried out the Acpo review, said it was necessary to ensure that the police were doing all they could to protect victims and the public from dangerous people who had repeatedly shown a propensity towards violence.

"We want to go after those serial perpetrators who go from relationship to relationship, growing in confidence and menace."

Moore admitted that the proposed "course of conduct" offence would be a radical departure in criminal law and had "polarised" his steering committee, with some members vehemently opposed.

He said he recognised that the proposals were controversial and required further consultation: "It is for government to take into account the wider perspectives as part of its full consultation."

The estimate that there are 25,350 serial perpetrators of violence against their domestic partners is based on returns from 27 out of the 43 police forces in England and Wales. Serial perpetrators were defined as those responsible for domestic violence involving two or more victims.

Moore, who is also Acpo's spokesman on public protection issues, said a study of 400 domestic violence, sexual assault and "serious" incident cases reported to the Metropolitan police in 2004 demonstrated that men went from one abusive relationship to another. A separate study based on Northumbria police data found that 18% of those who re-offended did so against a different partner.

The home secretary, Alan Johnson, said he believed the proposals would stimulate an important debate: "Work is already under way to implement one recommendation in the form of domestic violence protection orders, or Go orders, which will be an extremely useful tool for police to protect victims.

"We will now carefully consider how other recommendations can be taken forward and set out our proposed approach alongside the violence against women and girls strategy later this year," he said.