Police target family violence all year long

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 11, Issue 529, 29 March 1994, Page 17

Police target family violence all year long

Family violence is being singled out by the Police as a crime which, by its hidden brutality, strikes at the heart of society, says Police Commissioner Richard Macdonald. The campaign is to run all year, not just the short time surrounding the screening of the Television One documnentary last week. Announcing the start of a major police campaign, he says what happens behind closed doors not only accounts for up to 80 per cent of all violence in New Zealand - but misery for many thousands of women and children. "Family violence is a leamed behaviour and to reduce it the cycle of offending must be broken." Mr Macdonald said the police have toughened their own approach to dealing with it and worked for the last year to develop a plan which will help deter physical and psychological attacks by men on women and children. Victim care "The key point is that the police are taking family violence extremely seriously and if we get a complaint, we will not only turn out to deal with the offender - but work with the appropriate support services to make sure the victim is cared for." In launching the plan, he stressed the police initiative is just one of many being advanced by government and community agencies in an effort to reduce the cause and effects of family violence and improve victim support. The inter-agency approach marks the United Nation' s International Year of the Family and is in line with the 'Safer Communities Together' focus of the police. The police family violence plan is part of the five-year strategic approach to reduce the incidence and effects of crime. "As with our main strategic approach, the family violence plan depends very much on changing public attitudes and encouraging both public intolerance of violence and a greater willingness to report crime," he says. "Our objective is to encourage more victims - and people who care enough about their friends and neighbours - to report actual or suspected cases of family violence to us." Mr Macdonald says there was a time when what happened behind the closed doors of a private home was the occupant's personal business. 80% of violent crime indoors "But with up to 80 per cent of all violent crime in New Zealand being committed against family members - and not only behind closed doors these days - nobody can justify inaction." The commissioner says in acti vely encouraging a policy of public intervention, many people are in a position to recognise that family violence is occurring. "For instance,~many doctors, teachers and guidance counsellors already play a constructive part in ensuring that somebody intervenes to protect the innocent," he says. "It would be good to see a national commitment by everybody to report family violence to the police or seek advice from support agencies on what to do. "What we need is a concerted effort to safe-guard those in our society who aren't in a position to protect themselves from either physical or psychological harm." Mr Macdonald says the benefit of a broad-based public intervention approach will be that the offenders will not only know they are being watched, but will recognise that society cares enough to make sure they can' t get away with it. The Police have, throughout the development of their own plan, worked closely with the Family Violence Prevention Co-Ordinating Committee, many government departments, women' s and men's support groups, and victim support groups to ensure its plan fits in with their approaches. A prioe to pay "We know that one consequence of our intervention campaign will be to increase pressure on services and facilities of many of these agencies, but they have accepted that this is a price worth paying for reducing family violence," he says. Mr Macdonald says the first step has been to change the historical approach of police themselves by getting rid of the view that family violence was 'just another domestic' and applying an arrest approach to all offenders. "It is heartening to report that police officers have adapted very professionally to the new policy and work very closely with the various social agencies at the local level to ensure the victims of family violence are cared for." In for the long haul The Commissioner has served notice on offenders that police are not simply looking for a short-term quick-fix solution. "We are in this for the long-haul because society can't go on accepting the present levels of persecution by cowards who use their physical strength to torment and abuse those who can't fight back."