Domestic violence figures in South Australia show sobering reality of abuse
UP to 36 cases where women or children are at immediate risk of injury, or death, at the hands of a violent abuser are dealt with each week by a government unit tackling domestic violence.
- SA police reveal 6388 domestic violence reports in just one year
- Thousands of women seeking protection
- Hundreds breach court orders meant to keep victims safe
UP to 36 cases where women or children are at immediate risk of injury, or death, at the hands of a violent abuser are dealt with each week by a government unit tackling domestic violence.
And up to 72 cases a week can end up on the radar of the Multi-Agency Protection Service (MAPS) once “medium” or “standard” risk cases with concerning elements — such as repeat victims or abusers — are included.
The figures were released yesterday by senior SA Police during a hearing of a parliamentary committee examining responses to domestic violence.
The State Government launched a trial of the MAPS unit — which brings together agencies such as police, corrections, health, child protection, education and housing to monitor and resolve domestic violence cases — in August last year.
An evaluation of the trial is expected to be delivered to chief executives of the agencies involved on November 10, before decisions are made about how it could be expanded in future.
The unit assess between 400 and 450 cases referred by police each week.
SA Police Chief Inspector Deborah McLean told the committee that about 8 per cent — or between 32 and 36 cases — were deemed high-risk and were all dealt with by the unit.
A further 12 per cent were deemed medium risk and the remainder standard risk.
Ms McLean said the unit “scanned” those cases for indicators of greater risk and referred them to the MAPS caseload.
This usually amounted to 12 to 16 per cent of the hundreds of initial cases, or between 48 and 72 cases a week.
Ms McLean said the vast majority of cases involved a female victim.
Central Domestic Violence Service executive director Maria Hagias said high-risk cases involved someone “at imminent risk of serious injury or death”.
Ms Hagias said crisis services worked closely with police to share information about cases but were not yet formally included in the MAPS process.
“We look forward to the formalising of this relationship in the near future,” she said.
Opposition police spokesman John Gardner said there was a “public benefit” in making the evaluation of the MAPS trial public and called on the Government to table it in Parliament.
If it showed the unit had a positive effect, Mr Gardner said the Government should allocate specific ongoing funding in the midyear Budget review.
Ms McLean said bringing agencies such as housing or health together through the MAPS unit had unearthed cases which might otherwise have remained hidden.
“There are certain victims who will not engage with the police,” she said.
“Often, there’s domestic violence disclosed to other agencies that SAPOL has never been told about.”