After 106 per cent increase in family violence incidents in the last decade, the ACT will have a specialist team to investigate high-risk incidents.
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00:00Supporting survivors of family violence
00:02remains a government priority,
00:03and I'm pleased that ACT Policing is continuing
00:06to review and adapt how they respond to serious crime.
00:09By enhancing existing response arrangements,
00:13high-risk domestic and family violence matters
00:15will now be looked at by teams
00:17of dedicated family violence investigators.
00:20This will undoubtedly lead to better outcomes
00:23for victims across the ACT.
00:26Importantly, this new unit will look
00:28to ensure repeated calls for assistance do not occur
00:32by identifying the most at-risk victims
00:35and ensuring all options for support and compliance
00:38are being implemented.
00:40Now, of course, every Canberran
00:42should feel safe in their own home.
00:44But for those who don't,
00:46please know that there are support services
00:48and a dedicated family violence support team
00:51in ACT Policing available to help.
00:55I'm pleased that the $107 million that we invested last year
00:59for the recruitment of 126 new policing personnel
01:03is already being used
01:04to improve the safety of the Canberra community.
01:08I'll now hand over to the CPO to give you details
01:10about how the taskforce will operate.
01:12Thank you very much.
01:15Thanks, Minister.
01:17Good morning.
01:18I'm pleased to be here with Minister Gentleman this morning
01:21to announce the creation
01:23of a high-risk domestic and family violence unit
01:26within ACT Policing.
01:28The specialised unit will allow investigators
01:31to focus on Canberra's most high-risk
01:34domestic and family violence matters.
01:37This is the first time in the history of ACT
01:40that we are standing up an investigative unit
01:43solely dedicated to domestic and family violence matters
01:46in order to better investigate and support victims
01:50and recognise the significance of this type
01:53of insidious criminality in our community.
01:56The family violence unit coordination team
01:59will continue to support both the investigation units
02:03and ACT Policing by engaging in early intervention programs
02:07and delivering training to general duties officers
02:10in partnership with our other support agencies
02:14here in the ACT.
02:16This will see 23 ACT Policing officers
02:19solely dedicated to domestic and family violence incidents
02:23across the Australian Capital Territory.
02:26This will also include for the first time
02:28an intelligence capability within the unit
02:31to better inform ACT Policing and our partners
02:34around domestic and family violent risks
02:36in the Australian Capital Territory.
02:39Unfortunately, instances of domestic and family violence
02:42continue to occur and reporting of these matters
02:46increases as the public understanding
02:48of this type of criminality grows.
02:51This year alone, police across the territory
02:54have responded to almost 2,000 domestic and family violence instances
02:59already in 2000 and 2024.
03:02More than 500 of these incidents involved assaults,
03:06which over the past decade is an increase of 106% from 10 years ago.
03:13What we have seen recently in the ACT
03:16is domestic and family violence offences,
03:17including homicides, violent threats, assaults,
03:23stalking and intimate image abuse.
03:27This is happening across the territory.
03:30No suburb in the ACT is immune from these crimes.
03:36The domestic and family violence units
03:39will improve outcomes for victim survivors,
03:42but also assist general duties officers
03:44who are our first responders to these incidents.
03:47I want the community to feel reassured
03:49that my police officers work incredibly hard
03:52to support victim survivors,
03:54and we will continue to improve how we increase our processes
04:00and improve the support that we can provide
04:02to victim survivors into the future.