Updated
The quantity of Queensland police officers subject to domestic violence orders (DVOs) has far more than doubled in a year, outstripping the improve in the wider neighborhood.
Figures obtained under Right to Info by the ABC showed that in 2015, so far 50 officers have had DVOs taken out against then, up from 24 in 2014 and 20 in 2013.
Police Commissioner Ian Stewart stated it was a “sadly a reflection of our own neighborhood, that is been proven time and time again”.
“We have extremely, very robust requirements about this and we deal with these on a case-by-case basis,” he mentioned.
Police officers were prohibited by law from carrying a firearm while subject to a DVO, which meant they have been properly deskbound.
Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers stated even though he in no way condoned domestic violence, he mentioned given the impact on an officer’s career by being taken off the road he believed some partners had been making use of DVOs as leverage in partnership breakdowns.
“Tragically what I do see throughout society is some folks will misuse the domestic violence legislation for their own personal gains,” he said.
Mr Leavers also blamed the boost in DVOs, in portion, on the psychological effect of policing.
“I was at an information session on post-traumatic anxiety and what it essentially says is most police [officers]with 5 years or a lot more service have some form of post-traumatic stress,” he mentioned.
“That destroys relationships and that could, or could not, lead to domestic violence.”
Even with doubling of the DVOs against police officers, the rate was about half of that of the wider neighborhood.
Police statistics showed there have been 25,661 DVOs taken out in Queensland in 2014/15, which was up 6.two per cent on the year ahead of at 24,155.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk stated the increase was not necessarily a undesirable factor.
“The awareness that’s happening out there in the media is generating folks report and that is a great point since they are obtaining the assist that they require,” Ms Palaszczuk mentioned.
At last week’s Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting, Ms Palaszczuk committed to hosting a national domestic violence summit in Queensland towards the finish of subsequent year.
Topics: police, domestic-violence, activism-and-lobbying, household-law, family, qld
First posted