Mackay Whitsunday police take new approach to domestic violence reporting to reflect ‘true gravity’ of each case

Reported assaults have spiked as police take a new approach in tackling a hidden scourge to reflect the ‘true gravity’ of each case.

Mackay’s hidden scourge is being laid bare as police take a new approach to highlight “the true gravity” of domestic violence in the district, in what one survivor has labelled a step in the right direction.

The number of reported assaults in the Mackay district has spiked to 136 incidents in July, up from 103 in June.

It is the highest monthly tally for assaults recorded since January 2016 when 195 incidents were reported to police.

But Detective Inspector Tom Armitt said police were recording reported domestic violence incidents differently in the wake of the new dedicated task force formed earlier this year.

In July police received 153 reported breaches of a domestic violence order across Mackay district.

“We will be recording more assaults that are suspected to have occurred within domestic violence relationships rather than just attending … and recording it as one incident,” Detective Inspector Armitt said.

For example if police attend a reported breach of a domestic violence order that may include an alleged assault, the matter will not just be recorded as a DV breach.

“We will record … all offences that have occurred within that incident for true reporting so that we can report … the exact concerns that we have in relation to domestic violence,” Detective Inspector Armitt said.

“That’s not to say that more offences are occurring, it’s just to say that we’ve changed the way that we’re reporting those offences.

“It’s more about reflecting the true gravity of the situation rather than counting the incident as one domestic violence offence.”

Broken Ballerina Foundation director Jules Thompson with a fellow victim of domestic violence at the Red Rose Rally in Mackay.

Domestic violence survivor Jules Thompson said this move was a “positive step in the right direction”.

“I think this is great, it’s going to have more transparency,” the Broken Ballerina founder said, but added more needed to be done.

“Some police just don’t have the training though to handle DVs … there needs to be improvements there.”

In July 2021 there were 153 reported breaches of a domestic violence order across Mackay district, a jump up from the 128 in June.

“I think there’s slow progress. I think the police doing this is a good thing but there’s certainly a lot more work to be done in the DV sector,” she said.

Smarter thieves dishing out more bang from our buck

Mackay police urge residents to make home safety a priority by locking up their property.

QPS monthly statistics for the region also revealed a continued spike in unlawful entry, with reported incidents sitting at 165 – only slightly down from the 171 in June.

Detective Inspector Armitt said there had recently been multiple burglaries at storage shed facilities.

“While that’s one incident, each and every storage shed is counted as a separate offence,” he said.

“That’s causing what would appear to be a crime spike but in actuality our property offences are on the trend downwards.

“Our clearances are very high, we’re arresting more people for more offences … yet people still do commit the offences and run the gauntlet.”

Detective Inspector Armitt assured the community the Mackay district had a dedicated property offence team targeting these offenders, who were usually adults and “well known to police”.

Covid response on track

Amid a concerning Covid quarantine breach in the Whitsundays by a Hamilton Island man who flew in from Melbourne, Detective Inspector Armitt said there were a number of “policing activities” across the regions.

He said this included checking all flights from hotspot areas and ensuring people followed the rules.

There are four airports within the Mackay district – Mackay, Whitsunday, Hamilton Island and Moranbah.

Detective Inspector Armitt said police crews were permanently deployed on Hamilton Island to meet any incoming flights.

Random and targets traffic stops were also occurring as part of a number of highway operations, he said.

“To make sure that people coming up from down south are abiding by the rules that exist from the hotspot areas,” he said.

Within the Mackay Hospital and Health Service area there are currently 29 active quarantine notices.