Domestic violxjmtzywence support services have told a review into NSW policing that some responding officers appear to have little understanding of the trauma victims have been through.
Domestic Violence NSW, the state‘s peak body for specialist services, released the new report on Tuesday.
Frontline services responding to the review said some victim-survivors felt humiliated by their treatment by responding police officers.
“I had a client inform me that she was so traumatised by the assault but ended up being humiliated by police when one stated to her, ‘What’s wrong with you, why can’t you remember, it just happened?” a DVNSW member told the review.
“There appeared to be no understanding of the trauma that had just happened for this victim.”
Sixty-eight per cent of respondents said they disagreed with an assertion police were providing a trauma-informed service.
Service workers also told the report’s authors they found the police response was patchy across the state, especially in regional areas.
A majority of respondents said they did not have confidence police were adequately equipped to respond to domestic violence in Aboriginal communities.
“Due to the high rates of domestic and family violence and complexity of their role, it is imperative that the NSW Police Force is capable of delivering a consistent response so that victim-survivors feel safe and confident to call police seeking help,” interim DVNSW chief executive Elise Phillips said.
The DVNSW review comes a day after an Auditor-General report that criticised the way the NSW Police Force handled domestic violence policing, and echoed some of its findings.
A police spokeswoman said the force accepts the recommendations made by the Auditor-General.
“Several initiatives have been implemented over recent years to improve the policing response to domestic violence in NSW, yet we remain committed to strengthening this across the state,” she said.
“NSW Police remains committed to working with our partner agencies in supporting victims of these hidden crimes and reducing the scale and impact of domestic violence within the community.”
Domestic Violence Prevention Minister Natalie Ward said domestic and family violence was a serious and devastating crime and that the government was committed to stopping it.
“We are absolutely committed to working across all levels of Government and the community to help stop this abhorrent behaviour, support victim-survivors and hold perpetrators to account,” she said.
“The Audit Office of NSW found the NSW Police Force has almost doubled its domestic violence specialist workforce in the past five years and we welcome the Commonwealth Government’s support to improve training for police to effectively identify and support victim-survivors of complex family, domestic and sexual violence.”
The NSW Police Minister declined to comment on the reports.
