Shock number of Queensland’s DV killers known to police

It can be revealed the majority of domestic violence killers in Queensland had contact with police in the six months before murdering a family member or partner last year.

Domestic Violence Assistant Commissioner Katherine Innes. Pic: Adam Head

Majority of domestic violence killers in Queensland had contact with police in the six months before murdering a family member or partner last year, alarming new data shows.

In the 2023-24 financial year, 19 people were murdered in domestic violence settings – eight relatives, eight intimate partners, and three bystanders – by 16 offenders.

Of those 16 offenders, 15 had prior contact with police before committing murder, and 11 had contact with police in the six months before the homicide. Two of the offenders had domestic violence orders (DVOs) taken out against them by their victims.

In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Mail, the new head of the Queensland Police Domestic, Family Violence and Vulnerable Persons Command Assistant Commissioner Kath Innes declared the damning statistics not good enough as she takes on the mammoth task of leading the police response to the insidious scourge.

“There is a lot of work that goes on around protecting a survivor and unfortunately, a perpetrator is accountable for their actions,” Ms Innes said.

“That’s not good enough. We don’t want anyone killed.”

Domestic violence attempted murder offences soared to 19 offences for the same period.

Shockingly, 42 per cent of victims had DVOs against their attacker, and almost 80 per cent of offenders had DV-related police contact in the 12 months prior.

Domestic violence offences have also increased 8 per cent so far this financial year, with 42,000 DVO breaches recorded between July last year and January.

Ms Innes said it was clear reports were going up, and the key to prevention was starting education early.

“I think what we are seeing is the community recognising that this is a behaviour that isn’t acceptable, it’s a societal problem.

“It’s about education, making sure the next generation that come through are well educated about the standards of behaviour that is acceptable in community. That starts at the baseline.

“I would hope at some point in the future we are going to get to a point of saturation where behaviours are going to change, and we will see a reduction in the future.”

Last year, police responded to more than 200,000 DV jobs throughout Queensland, with then-Commissioner Steve Gollschewski telling The Courier-Mail officers were “red-lining” most days under the struggle to keep up with demand.

Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski. Picture: Liam Kidston

The Queensland Police Union has been vocal about implementing a new offence of “committing domestic violence”, but Ms Innes wouldn’t be drawn on her thoughts about the proposal.

She said the biggest focus during her time in the Command was to make it easier for police to do their job.

“So we’re looking at some of that at the moment, an overview of the training, operational procedure manual will be reviewed, making sure we are streamlining as much as we can.

“The message to officers is do the job in front of you and do it well. That’s all we can ask of our officers.”

Ms Innes had already consolidated almost all 70 members of her team to the same floor and moved staff in next door who were in charge of reforms from the Commission of Inquiry (COI) into Queensland Police Service responses to domestic and family violence.

So far, 34 of 59 QPS recommendations have been implemented, including the rollout of Vulnerable Persons Units in every police district in Queensland, more training for senior shift leaders, and a trial embedding a civilian DV specialist within police stations across the state.

Ms Innes said there had been a “real shift” since the COI, but said there was more work to be done.

“I feel that the progress has been substantial.

“(But there’s) always improvement, always going to be changes, and we need to be alive to those needs across the board.”

Ms Innes said police needed help from domestic violence support agencies.

“We’ve got some excellent services around the state but there is sometimes some gaps there.

“We would like to be doing the policing, and let those specialist services do that specialist work.

“I would like to make sure the front line have everything they need to do their job in the most efficient manner that they can, because I want victims to be supported and perpetrators to be held accountable.”

Originally published as Shock number of Queensland’s DV killers known to police