Former senior cop says there are cultural issues around domestic violence investigation

The inquiry into how police respond to domestic and family violence has heard of one instance in which a cop was told investigating the death of a domestic violence would be a waste of time because of their living circumstances.

A senior police officer reportedly told a colleague they were not “wasting their time” investigating the death of a domestic violence victim because she and her husband were “a pair of scumbags who live in a shit area in a shit house”.

The claim was made to the Commission of Inquiry into Police Responses to Domestic and Family Violence yesterday as part of a survey of police officers.

Former Detective Superintendent Mark Ainsworth told the inquiry he had been brought in as a consultant to interview police officers about whether they believed there were cultural issues that affected the way domestic violence is investigated.

He said he had interviewed 53 officers with a range of experience from different areas of Queensland.

Counsel assisting the inquiry, Ruth O’Gorman, asked Mr Ainsworth about an interview he conducted with a female sergeant who attended an incident involving the death of a woman in 2019.

Former police superintendent Mark Ainsworth has interviewed officers about the culture surrounding domestic violence investigations.

The inquiry heard the sergeant considered there were suspicious circumstances surrounding the woman’s death, but it is not clear whether the woman’s death was ever ruled a homicide.

“She was quite concerned, wasn’t she, because the deceased and her husband had had a number of domestic and family violence orders in place in the course of their relationship and were from a low socio-economic area,” Ms O’Gorman said to Mr Ainsworth.

“And I think she reported to you that when she spoke … to the District Duty Officer about her concerns, the DDO said to her, they’re a pair of scumbags who live in a shit area, in a shit house and police wouldn’t be wasting their time in investigating the death.”

Mr Ainsworth said that while the sergeant said she believed there was a “negative culture” within the police that had not changed since 2019, he said anecdotes like that were “rare”.

He also told the inquiry that frontline officers did not always feel supported when it came to attending domestic violence incidents and that they’d reported difficulties finding emergency accommodation for both men and women victims.

He said police had told him one service suggested a woman sleep at the police station for the night and in another case, it was suggested a woman should sleep in her car.

Ms O’Gorman said some of the officers Mr Ainsworth interviewed said they were terrified of making a mistake for fear of negative media coverage.

“A prosecutor said to you … every time there is a DV death, the government says there will be another review and pressure is put back on the police asking what are you going to do about it and we get some knee-jerk reaction and nothing has changed,” she said.

“And there was one senior sergeant … who said this to you … he does not believe that either the Premier or the Commissioner is serious about domestic and family violence and that this inquiry, this commission, is just a tick in the box for both of them and the QPS focus on domestic violence is really only a facade.”

A police spokesperson said the service was supportive and encouraging of former and serving officers assisting the inquiry.

“The QPS will work with the Commission of Inquiry to examine any issues raised as part of the inquiry and respond accordingly to ensure that organisational values, standards of practice and responsibilities are being maintained and, where the opportunity arises, enhanced,” the spokesperson said.

“The Commissioner and executive leadership team remains committed to strengthening and improving the QPS response to domestic and family violence matters to ensure the service is supporting all victims and holding perpetrators to account.”