Special high-risk offenders unit to deploy bikie busting tactics to tackle family violence
WESTERN Sydney suburbs have been named as domestic violence hot spots with police now forced to use bikie busting tactics to tackle the problem. In one area, more than 2290 incidents have been recorded.
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NSW Police are making unexpected house calls on domestic violence suspects, conducting random vehicle checks and stepping up covert surveillance as they deploy tactics proven to work against bikies to fight family brutality in western Sydney.
A Domestic Violence High Risk Offenders Unit was launched last month in the northwest Sydney police command area, where statistics show rates of the crime are high, including up to almost 7700 incidents reported in Blacktown’s local government area last year.
The unit is running a fine tooth comb over apprehended domestic violence orders issued in the western region in the past 12 months and using specialist analysts to identify suspects most likely to be repeat offenders.
Suspects can expect officers to come knocking on their door unannounced, stopping them for roadside checks, examining their mobile phone for messages and calls, and doing “drive-bys” of their homes.
SPECIAL INVESTIGATION: Find out how DV rates in your postcode
Extra focus will also be on strictly enforcing restrictions such as alcohol bans.
The new approach is already paying off. After six weeks, the team has knocked on nearly 50 doors and made seven arrests, while putting another six men under close watch.
Domestic violence rates have fallen in the three other police commands where the new approach has been implemented, NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said yesterday.
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He made no apologies for the uncompromising methods, which mirror the tactics Strike Force Raptor officers used to successfully dismantle outlaw bikie gangs.
“Domestic violence for a long time was a response crime, where we attended only when someone was a victim,” he said. “That has changed now and we are employing proactive police strategies to reduce the incidence of domestic violence.”
The new approach comes after the Telegraph Project Sydney Go West campaign has advocated strongly in recent years for more police resources to crack down on domestic violence in Sydney’s west. Assistant Commissioner Mark Jones, head of domestic violence operations and also the northwest area commander, said abusers were on notice.
“We are constantly reviewing and assessing people who are subject of Apprehended Violence Orders and letting them know that we do not consider it a just a piece of paper,’’ he said.
“If someone is considered a high risk we will go and knock on their door.
“The team also ensure that offenders are complying with the conditions imposed on them.”
Among the worst offenders picked up already was a known wife-basher arrested for breaching a domestic violence order at a Toongabbie home just 45 minutes after he had been released from jail.
The team was also able to “extract’’ a mother and two children who had been systematically abused during 15 years of unreported violence.
“The victims have been rehoused, schools found for the children and support such as supplying a mobile phone, special panic alarm pendants and providing food vouchers and Opal cards for them,’’ Mr Jones said.
SPECIAL INVESTIGATION
► CHAPTER ONE: Inside the squad that beat Sydney’s gangs
► CHAPTER TWO: The real-life police fight club
