Former Townsville police officer Elise Feltham reveals Domestic and Family Violence Advisory Panel to focus on perpetrators

A former Qld police officer says a newly established DV panel would be “perpetrator focused” as overworked and understaffed police continue to grapple with a backlog of domestic and family violence call-outs.

A former Townsville police officer says a newly established DV panel would be “perpetrator focused” as overworked and understaffed police continue to grapple with a backlog of domestic and family violence call-outs.

Former police officer and specialist trainer Elise Feltham was earlier this week announced as one of five members of the newly established Domestic and Family Violence Advisory Panel, which met for the first time in Townsville on Monday.

Ms Feltham, who was the founding officer-in-charge of the Domestic and Family Violence and Vulnerable Persons Unit, Townsville District during her 17 years’ with the Queensland Police Service (QPS) said the panel would be “perpetrator focused”.

“I think policing domestic and family violence, not just in Townsville, anywhere in Queensland is the hardest thing that they do because it is so complex and there are so many different interfacing sectors of why a family unit is not functioning the way it should,” she said.

Ms Feltham said there were about 14,000 domestic and family violence call-outs in Townsville alone last financial year.

“I think policing domestic and family violence, not just in Townsville, anywhere in Queensland is the hardest thing that (police officers) do because it is so complex and there are so many different interfacing sectors of why a family unit is not functioning the way it should,” she said.

“The amount of pressure on police and the responsibility that they hold is huge.

“You are talking about officers who may be 21, 22 years of age and have never come across domestic and family violence in real life before.”

Elise Feltham spent years on the frontline of the Townsville DV crisis. Picture: Evan Morgan

But Ms Feltham said the current police service was better trained to identify “perpetrator tactics”.

“I know that if I can control a perpetrator’s behaviour, ultimately I have a safe victim,” she said.

“The (victim-survivors) wouldn’t need as much support if we didn’t have perpetrators in the first place.”

Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Minister Amanda Camm said the panel would be “critical in offering practical advice”.

The star-studded panel includes solicitor Kelli Martin, who represented the family of murdered Brisbane mother Hannah Clarke, First Nations legal service chief executive Wynetta Dewis, DFV researcher Associate Professor Heather Lovatt, and practitioner-academic Dr Brian Sullivan.

Panellists used their first meeting to raise urgent questions about how little funding goes toward addressing perpetrator behaviour.

“Less than 10 per cent of all DFV funding goes to rehabilitation or support services for those using violence. Unless we shift that over the next three years, we’ll just be chasing our tail,” Ms Camm said.

Dr Sullivan said the focus had shifted from victims to “perpetrator accountability”.

“I think the nuance and the complexity of DV has become a lot more apparent over the last 20 years and especially with the DV legislation now today, coercive control – we are starting to realise that the physical side of it is only one aspect, the entrapment of a woman is far more sinister.”

Originally published as Former Townsville police officer Elise Feltham reveals Domestic and Family Violence Advisory Panel to focus on perpetrators