SA Police to launch new Public Protection Unit to tackle family violence, child and elder abuse

SPECIALIST officers will be deployed in a new police unit targetting child abuse, family violence and elder abuse, after revelations almost 30,000 such crimes were reported a year.

Detective Chief Inspector Denise Gray and Detective Superintendent Mark Wieszyk at the old Police barracks. Picture: Calum Robertson

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FAMILY violence, child exploitation and elder abuse will be among targets of a new crack squad to start operating inside SA Police within months.

Senior police have revealed the Public Protection Branch will bring on board almost 40 extra specialist officers to improve the force’s response to some of the most complex social problems facing the state.

It comes after The Advertiser yesterday revealed police were responding to soaring reports of domestic violence each year – peaking at almost 30,000.

Growing numbers of children continue to be removed from unsafe homes and cases of elder abuse are high on the radar of police, following mistreatment at the now closed Oakden nursing home.

SA Police Assistant Commissioner Scott Duval told The Advertiser the unit, based on a UK model, would act as a “one-stop shop” for managing high-risk violent and sex offenders and responding to victims.

“You’ve only got to look at community attitudes,” Assistant Commissioner Duval said.

“I think (the unit) is really needed in terms of the future for us being able to prevent, respond appropriately (to) and reduce anything to do with child protection, domestic violence and elder abuse.”

The unit will comprise 110 officers – including 39 new roles – led by Detective Superintendent Mark Wieszyk, who said it would “co-ordinate a range of services to help a diverse group of vulnerable people”.

Three chief inspectors, within the unit, will be responsible for Special Crime Investigation, Offender Management and Family and Domestic Violence sections.

Respectively, they will cover crimes such as sexual assault or those committed against vulnerable victims such as children, crimes committed inside prisons and monitoring criminals who are released from prison but pose a risk to the community, and responding to incidents of family violence, elder abuse or child exploitation, including online.

“It all comes out of co-ordination,” Mr Duval said.

“A child at risk could perhaps come out of a domestic violence situation. That situation may create a high risk offender. With the new branch we could inject a whole lot of extra people into (any related) investigation because they’re sitting in that structure already. If a government agency has an issue around any of those things ... they can just come in (to SA Police) through the one door.”

The establishment of a Public Protection Branch stems from an original Family and Domestic Violence Branch, which was announced in late 2014.

It began with four staff and was responsible for developing policies and training officers.

Police Commissioner Grant Stevens flagged in The Advertiser in late 2016 that he wanted to “substantially” expand that small unit to take on the most complex, serious cases.

Mr Duval said funding allocated to SA Police by the previous Labor Government to recruit an extra 313 cadets had enabled the internal promotion of officers to specialist roles in the new Public Protection Branch, which he said was a “priority area”.

More officers also are being deployed to local police stations, particularly in regional areas, to respond to the rise in domestic violence reports.

SA Police data in The Advertiser yesterday revealed almost 6400 incidents were reported outside the greater Adelaide area. The most reports were made in the Far North, Eyre Peninsula and Murray Mallee regions.

Experts and advocacy groups warn women living in rural and remote areas face greater barriers to escaping violent relationships because of their isolation.

“What we’ve identified is that regional areas needed more (support),” Mr Duval said.

“We’ve increased the numbers of people on the ground who are providing that specialist support. It allows those units on the ground to better engage with people in their area, whether it’s the Riverland, or the South East or the West Coast.”

For support phone 1800 RESPECT. In an emergency phone 000.