Who cares about Domestic Violence?

As an industry focussed on the protection of people, security could consider what more it can do to assist organisations and charities who protect the victims of domestic violence, writes Heather Robertson, Development Manager for Attenti’s Social Impact Channel.

Much is published about the increase in domestic violence, and the reasons – including the impact of COVID isolation. Analysed by clinical, research and academic organisations, these issues herald not only a rise in the number of incidents, but increasing severity, causes, and the consequential impact on the social services to whom victims and children turn in times of desperation.

In our role in offering justice and agencies the technology to better protect the victims and their children, Attenti is seeing increasing difficulties in two specific areas that sit behind the data, and these deserve highlighting. But first, let’s review recent statistics:

• Shine tells us that every 3.5 minutes

New Zealand Police attend a domestic abuse incident, and that in 2019 police investigated 172,727 domestic violence incidents.

• Accelerated violence leading to homicide is equally on the increase with 50% of all homicides related to family violence, and that every 5 ½ weeks a child is killed by a family member in New Zealand.

• Although we know 76% of family violence incidents in New Zealand are not reported, recent research from Australia applauds the fact that a greater number of incidents are being reported as it shows increased confidence in police and social support.

Based on these, the first area that should be highlighted is the impact on those social agencies who are working with the increasing number of victims, and the severity of violence. Added to the sharp increase is the number of incidents during COVID isolation, an increase which isn’t decreasing as quickly as predicted.

These statistics speak to the quality of care provided by police and social services which has increased victims’ confidence in reporting, but we need to recognise this in itself results on additional strain on their resources and on their people.

The full impact of this was revealed to us recently as we have been working to assist social organisations by funding the provision of our equipment through New Zealand and Australia.

Several have had to ‘put on hold’ our offer of help, which included bilateral proximity measuring equipment and panic alarms, and in recognition of the contribution of alcohol to incidents of domestic violence we included the alcohol monitoring equipment of our global partner AMS. We also included project coordinators to reduce the impact on their staff.

The offer had been made through our partnership with ANZ Mental Health Association as an outcome of the support we received from a small pilot we ran last year involving volunteers from Queensland Police and Social Services.

Domestic Violence organisations from both countries talked to us about obtaining the equipment, which we would fund for an initial period, and for which we would also provide resources to run an ongoing programme.

But what eventuated caused us to reflect on the real difficulties faced by these organisations and the widening impact of the increase in domestic violence.

Government may be providing additional funding, but there is still a shortfall in terms of the number of experienced people to cope with the problems and needs of the victims.

This is not just a funding issue. Each organisation is dealing with their own staff shortages due to COVID, and when considering domestic violence, we realised that not enough attention is paid to those on the front line – the ones who work with the victims and children.

The second issue worthy of attention is the increased willingness by survivors to report domestic violence, as was substantiated by statistics from Australia.

David Tombs our Regional Vice President observed that “It’s heartening to see the confidence increase in Police and their willingness to record the reports. However there is a twist in this tale, as it reveals a dark and more dangerous aspect of domestic violence, as a survivor who reports can face significant increased risk of violence and even murder.”

The apparent answer to this would seem to lie in the obtaining of a Protection Order, but here statistics show an even darker aspect, as obtaining a Protection Order can increase these dangers. Reports show victims facing an escalation in harassment, surveillance, stalking and intimidation, and when the case studies are read in conjunction with the statistics the full impact of those increased risks is realised.

This is where Attenti’s equipment provides the protection needed, and it becomes more than just disappointing that the organisations who want the equipment are not able to cope with the added stress of embedding such a programme.

Created in conjunction with the Australian & New Zealand Mental Health Association’s Stop Domestic Violence conference, our programme “Why should Victims be Victimised Twice” was designed to address not only the physical but also the emotional impact of the fear 24 x 7 x 52. This has been expanded into a partnership with the Association to provide an ongoing opportunity for social agencies to access the equipment.

Having been through the process and trauma of obtaining a Protective Order, victims live in continued – and often increased – fear of violence, heighted by the added malice of revenge. While perimeter equipment gives security to them while they stay within the nominated ‘safe zone’, they themselves become imprisoned within the zone knowing that to step out of it exposes them to this very real danger.

Reports show aggressors, the subject of domestic violence protective orders, are still able to conduct horrific violence and continually breach family violence intervention orders unafraid of the likelihood of imprisonment, and in some cases with little repercussion from justice.

But it’s not about repercussion, it’s about protection. Prison is of little value to a victim who has been badly beaten or indeed killed.

The proximity measuring equipment, by dynamically measuring the distance between victim and aggressor, gives kilometres of warning if either come within range, allowing the victim the ability to move about with increased freedom to move about and return to have a relative normal life.

“It’s not enough to protect victims and children from physical harm but leave them in constant fear,” said David. “We need to be concerned about the depth of the emotional impact that has far reaching effects on victims and their children who live with them in these terrible circumstances, and how it impacts them on an ongoing basis.”

When increased pressure on (i) the victims who were brave enough to report and (ii) the support services supporting them, are paralleled, it is clear additional help is needed. But then to see support services delay accepting help because they’re under such stress, we have to realise that there’s are other problems we need to confront if we care about reducing domestic violence.

The increased Government spend announced late May will hopefully add some relief for social agencies, but those of us who make protection our mission should look at how we can add our weight to this issue.

“As business leaders each of us are under pressure to deliver on shareholder value and EBITDA, but on our worst days we rarely face anything greater than juggling what we feel are limited resources, shrinking margins and competitor impacts,” said David. “What would our days be like if we continually faced the violence and death of our clients?”

“As we are an industry that prides itself on protecting people, what more can we be doing to care for this sector? If you have suggestions or help you can offer, reach out to Heather or myself or as part of your Social Enterprise commitment, consider what you can offer directly to these organisations”.

Attenti is a global organisation working in the justice and social sectors. In addition to the electronic monitoring equipment for corrective services, Attenti pioneered the bilateral equipment referred to in this article. With upwards of 20,000 couples on programmes throughout Europe and South America, Attenti equipment and has not only been adopted by justice ministries, but has been gifted by aid organisations to countries seeking to protect victims from domestic violence.