The NSW Police Force has established an Australian-first specialist policing team to drive targeted prevention, disruption, and investigation responses, to domestic and family violence in NSW.
Following the release of the NSW Auditor-General’s Report ‘Police responses to domestic and family violence’, NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb initiated the Domestic and Family Violence (DFV) Reform Project to change the way police respond to and prevent domestic violence.
The key objectives of the Reform Project included addressing the recommendations of the report and implementing strategies to target reoffending set out in the NSW Premier’s final report on DFV reoffending.
On July 30, Commissioner Webb announced the establishment of the DFV Registry, a centralised unit of subject matter experts with 24-hour capability to provide advice, guidance, and response to domestic and family violence incidents.
“Domestic and family violence is one of today’s most challenging and complex community issues,” she said.
“It feels like an epidemic, and it is time for that to change.
“I see the DFV Registry as being central to that change, not just within our organisation, but also through improved collaboration with service providers, advocates, and other key stakeholders.
“The Registry is staffed by officers with expertise in domestic and family violence issues, including investigations and victim support, as well as legal and intelligence specialists, and a consultant psychologist.
“With better outcomes for victims as the priority, this team will ensure we do everything we can to put policies, procedures, and checkpoints in place to create solutions for now and into the future.”
The DFV Registry will support all NSW Police officers in the response to DFV by providing strategic oversight and optimising the use of resources, with expansive core functions including:
- Quality assurance and governance,
- Government reporting and auditing of police area commands and districts,
- Education and specialist training, assessment of new programs,
- Monitoring and escalation of high-risk offenders, and,
- Investigative strategy and capability development.
DFV Registry Commander, Superintendent Danielle Emerton, said all organisational information and intelligence relating to domestic and family violence will be fed into and reviewed by the DFV Registry to develop strategies to help reduce incidences and threats of violence.
“We have a predictive model to analyse the likelihood that an offender will cause serious harm, which allows us to put strategies in place to neutralise the threat,” she said.
“An important part of managing this process is understanding the difference between repeat offenders and dangerous offenders – those whose intent, capability and access to their victim is escalated.
“Importantly, the systems we have in place help us to identify repeat victims quickly, so we can put them in contact with support services and guide them through the legal processes.”