Top cop says force needs more power to tackle family violence scourge

One of Victoria’s most senior police has called for more powers to crack down on the surge in family violence, saying the job of police on this issue “will never be done”.

One of Victoria’s most senior police says officers need more powers to crack down on family violence and hold male perpetrators to account.

Family Violence Command Assistant Commissioner Lauren Callaway said while there was no “magic solution” to fix the crisis, tougher laws had been discussed internally, including the creation of an offender register and a scheme to track high-risk perpetrators through ankle bracelets.

A/C Callaway, speaking at a press conference on Friday, said there also needed to be a greater focus on rehabilitating perpetrators of family violence.

“It is a very blunt instrument to simply just lock everyone up who commits a family violence incident,” she said.

“We’re at the point where it’s not one magic solution to fix this problem. It has multi layers to it.”

A/C Callaway said while Victoria Police hasn’t yet made any formal submissions to the Allan government, the force is “always interested in having a conversation with the government about our powers”.

Family Violence Command Assistant Commissioner Lauren Callaway says tougher laws have been discussed internally. Picture: Diego Fedele

“I believe we have a really good system in place — it’s whether or not there are adjustments within that system that could strengthen our ability to bring perpetrators before the court,” she said.

A “threshold system” that allows police to assess individual risk could serve as a valuable tool when an offender breaches an intervention order, she said.

“While we are charging lots of offenders with breaches of (an) intervention order, some of those breaches are for things like text messages so it’s not appropriate to remand someone in every case,” A/C Callaway said.

“We’ve got to actually look at the individual circumstances and base it on risk, on the history of the offender and what is the most appropriate way to deal with them at the time.”

Last year police attended 94,000 family violence related jobs — a two per cent increase on the year prior.

On average, officers attend a domestic incident every six minutes and arrest a perpetrator every 18 months.

On average, officers attend a domestic incident every six minutes and arrest a perpetrator every 18 minutes.

A/C Callaway said family violence made up one quarter of all crime in Victoria.

“This is a moment in time that we’ve got to and it’s not the first time we’ve been at this moment and sadly I don’t think it will be the last time we’re at this moment,” she said.

“Our job will never be done on this.

“Those of us who work in family violence are equally disheartened by the statistics — and they’re not just statistics. They are people who have suffered the most tragic of circumstances of family violence.”

A/C Callaway added there needed to be a greater emphasis on men to change their behaviour.

“It shouldn’t be on women to change everything. Some solutions, I think, place too much emphasis on women to do the changing and we know that’s not the long time solution,” she said.

“I understand how women are frustrated about this particular crime theme and how devastating it is to families and friends. It just seems like there’s another terrible news story everyday.”