In the latest Victorian Crime Statistics Agency data, family violence incidents in Campaspe Police Service Area have grown.
Over the past 12 months, incidents have increased by eight per cent, with total offences growing by 26 per cent compared to the previous year.
Campaspe PSA Inspector David Bowler believes that these numbers reflect more reporting across the board of family violence incidents.
“That is expected, and the reason that’s expected is because we’re encouraging people to report family violence,” he said.
“It’s a good thing that people are reporting and have the confidence to report.”
Inspector Bowler described the police process when attending a family violence incident.
“Police are bound by the Family Violence Protection Act and also bound by our family violence code of practice and our internal policies,” he said.
“We will take a family violence report, and in that report there are mechanisms built into it to determine the level of risk for that particular family violence incident.
“The report also tries to predict the level of risk of future family violence.
“We submit the report, and it goes via our database directly to The Orange Door (a family violence support service).”
When police arrive at the scene, they speak to victim-survivors and perpetrators about lodging intervention orders or a family violence safety notice.
If applied for, they will be lodged in court and a court date is issued.
Immediate protections can also be put in place, such as an exclusion order, or in extreme circumstances the police work with sector partners to arrange crisis accommodation.
Police can also conduct a direct witness statement, where a victim-survivor can record digital evidence directly to an officer’s body-worn camera.
Inspector Bowler said police had focused on proactive policing with victim-survivors and with people who were using violence.
A particular priority had been to reduce the number of repeat offenders.
“What we don’t want to see is an increase in recidivous family violence offences,” he said.
“We don’t want to see us getting called multiple times for multiple family violence incidences occurring (to) our victim-survivors.
“We’re hopeful that some of the interventions that we can put in place, not only from Victoria Police, but interventions from our sector partners, can help to break the cycle.”
Proactive policing with victim-survivors includes regular monitoring, particularly if the perpetrator is considered high-risk.
These check-ins have also seen an increase in reporting incidents that may otherwise go unrecorded.
“We might check in with victim-survivors and see how they’re going,” Inspector Bowler said.
“They may not necessarily report something that has occurred, but because we’re checking in with them regularly, they go, ‘oh, by the way, yesterday or last week, the person using violence came to my house and did this’.
“They’re feeling more comfortable and reporting more.”
High-risk perpetrators are also being checked in on, including through open source social media checks and telephone checks.
This can help to identity potential breaches of which police were otherwise unaware.
‘Breach family violence order’ was the highest offence type recorded over the past 12 months, which Inspector Bowler said pointed to the amount of proactive policing and picking up on repeat offenders.
“This tells me that the majority of the time, we’re going to a family violence incident and there’s already an intervention order or civil protection in place,” he said.
Victims of family violence are encouraged to report incidents by calling 000 or by contacting their local police station: Echuca 5483 1500, Moama 5482 0099, Rochester 5484 1100, Kyabram 5853 1777.
Sector partners:
The Orange Door in Loddon, 1800 512 359, loddon@orangedoor.vic.gov.au
Centre for Non-Violence, 1800 884 292, open 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, cnv.org.au/we-are-here-to-help
24-hour crisis response:
Safe Steps, 1800 015 188, safesteps.org.au
Sexual Assault Crisis Line, 1800 806 292
Men’s Referral Service, 1300 766 491