Assistant Commissioner Brian Codd wasn’t aware of report about lack of police action on DV in far north

Queensland’s top domestic violence officer wasn’t aware of a shocking report that found police had not taken action against perpetrators after observing spouses with bloodied lips, swollen faces, black eyes and severe facial injuries from a glassing.

The state’s most senior domestic violence officer wasn’t aware of an alarming intelligence report that said victims were at risk of dying in the state’s Far North because of a lack of police action.

Under an intense day of questioning in which he was recalled as a witness to the Commission of Inquiry into Queensland Police Service responses to domestic and family violence, Assistant Commissioner Brian Codd said he had only been made aware of the “highly concerning” report this week.

The intelligence officer’s report said it was “unthinkable” police had not taken action against perpetrators after observing spouses with bloodied lips, swollen faces, black eyes and severe facial injuries from a glassing.

Victims also told police they had been hit deliberately by a vehicle or hospitalised with suspected rib fractures after an assault.

The June 2021 report, reviewing incidents in 2020-21, found it was likely a DV death would happen in the Torres Strait and Northern Peninsula because of the frequency and severity of DV.

The intelligence officer suggested officers on Thursday Island were finalising DV jobs “prematurely” as “DV other action” and were “avoiding charging respondents with domestic violence-related criminal offences”, the inquiry was told.

Assistant Commissioner Brian Codd. Picture: Steve Pohlner

The report found 80 per cent of DV jobs involved recidivist offenders and officers had increased finalising jobs as “DV other” by 86 per cent, without providing protection to victims.

The officer suggested there was a belief among officers that “threats to kill” was not DV; that further violence was likely to be minimal if spouses lived apart; a failure to investigate if the incident was a one-off and that non-physical violence was not given enough weight.

Assistant Commissioner Codd said when he asked for feedback from the region on the report he was told it was a “training tool only” and an “assumption of the intelligence officer only” who hadn’t consulted with investigating officers about why certain actions weren’t taken in DV investigations.

He said he was still seeking further information but other officers had disagreed with parts of the report and had been told that the intelligence officer didn’t have a DV background in policing.

“It’s terribly concerning that it wasn’t at least brought to someone’s attention that would need to act on that,” Mr Codd said.

Counsel Assisting the inquiry Ruth O’Gorman asked if an investigation would take place into a failure of duty of police but Mr Codd said the matter was for the ethical standards command and he would speak to investigators there.

Commissioner Deborah Richards. Picture: Tara Croser

Commissioner Deborah Richards said the intelligence report was an “extremely disturbing document” and said she hoped the officer would not be “hauled over the coals” given other officers had discredited the report.

“Really, the intelligence officer should be commended for taking the initiative to at least draw some of those matters to attention,” she said.

Mr Codd said as a result of the report risk management for supervisors, additional training for first responders and performance benchmarks had been set.

Separately, the inquiry also heard that a police review of front counter reporting between April 2020 and May 2021 had found almost half domestic violence victims had their matters finalised without police making an application for a DV order and were recorded as “DV other”.

A significant number of the people went on to make a private DV application.

There were 357 instances of DV reports being recorded as “street checks” against QPS policy that should have been recorded as a DV.

Assistant Commissioner Codd denied there were systemic issues with policing responses to DV.

He also defended the service not taking on recommendations from previous inquiry and coronial investigations and police were reviewing those and awaiting the DV inquiry recommendations.