Domestic violence spikes in Ipswich: See the suburbs where assaults appear to be on the rise

The Domestic Violence Action Centre suspects the floods and housing crisis are behind the clear spike in alleged assaults in Ipswich this year, with DV order breaches also on the rise.

Domestic violence appears to be on the rise in Ipswich, with an ongoing increase in alleged domestic violence order breaches coupled with a dramatic spikes in reported alleged assaults in recent months.

The Queensland Police Service (QPS) data shows a gradual but steady increase of alleged domestic violence order breaches in Ipswich since the start of 2020 – peaking at an all-time high of 261 in March 2022, up from 184 the previous year, and 144 in March 2020.

The data also shows that the number of alleged assaults reported in Ipswich each month have significantly increased since last year — and more than doubled in some cases.

In 2022, 262 alleged assaults were recorded in March, 237 in April and 220 in May – compared to 115, 98 and 133 in the same months respectively last year.

District Inspector David Briese said there was a correlation between the two datasets; although the assault data was not limited to domestic violence assaults, he said it did reflect a clear increase in the reporting of alleged domestic violence cases.

Detective Inspector David Briese said there was a correlation between alleged DV breach data and alleged assaults. Photo: Ebony Graveur

However, he said the police data may be a better measure of the number of victims coming forward than the number of domestic violence assaults actually occurring; therefore, the increase may actually be a positive indication of increased trust in police.

“If the community has confidence they can report to us, that’s a good thing,” he said.

CEO for the Domestic Violence Action Centre (DVAC), Amie Carrington said she has observed increasing trust levels in the police – with a 45 per cent increase in police referrals in the last 12 months.

However, she suspects “on some level that there has been an actual increase [in DV cases] as well”.

Ms Carrington said environmental events like the recent flooding would have likely had an impact – along with the housing crisis, which limits women’s options if they are wanting to leave, but can’t secure alternative housing.

She said DVAC has observed increasing numbers of self-referrals on top of the increased police referrals since the start of COVID-19.

They are currently receiving an average of 30 calls a day from the Ipswich, Toowoomba, Darling and Southern Downs regions.

Ms Carrington said DVAC has been collaborating more closely with the police in recent years; they are excited to be welcoming an embedded officer to their organisation in the coming months, who will work with them more closely, and they currently have a women’s specialist working with the Toowoomba Police Department.

District Inspector Briese said domestic violence cases have been a growing focus for the police as they carry out recommendations put forwards by the Special Taskforce on Domestic and Family Violence in Queensland’s Not now, not ever report.

Ms Carrington said she’s “really pleased” to work with the police and provide feedback, but that there are “some ways to go with policing responses.”

She said a key area they could work on is educating officers about trauma responses.

“We often perceive a victim to be a certain way … if we don’t understand trauma, we can misinterpret their responses,” said Ms Carrington.

“Making statements to the police is a very difficult and anxiety inducing thing and having police officers who are training in trauma and who are empathetic is a really helpful thing.”

According to the QPS crime map, the suburbs with the highest numbers of reported alleged assaults (including but not limited to domestic violence) in the last six months were:

1. Ipswich Central: 102
2. Goodna: 97
3. Leichhardt: 96
4. Booval: 58
5. Collingwood Park: 54
6. Redbank Plains: 49
7. Brassall: 41