Hot on the trail

Editorial: Danielle Ford

Photography: Danielle Ford and Jesse Wray-McCann

When it comes to Victoria's most dangerous family violence offenders, there's a small but powerful police team working to track them down.

Embedded within Victoria Police’s Family Violence Command (FVC), the FVC Taskforce is a dedicated investigative team that helps police across the state locate and arrest high-level offenders.

Detective Senior Sergeant Steve Higgins, officer in charge of the taskforce, said many of the offenders targeted by his team were “the worst of the worst”, with offences mostly against women and children.

“They are dangerous offenders, many who have a significant history of offences including serious assault, threats to kill, sexual offences and stalking,” Det Sen Sgt Higgins said.

“They often know police are after them and they are doing everything they can to avoid us.”

The FVC Taskforce, comprising Det Sen Sgt Higgins, two detective sergeants, 13 detective senior constables and two intelligence analysts, provides state-wide support to Victoria Police’s busy specialist family violence investigators.

“We receive requests for assistance from investigators to locate wanted family violence offenders and we effectively take control of this phase of the investigation, including conducting a planned arrest operation and notifying the relevant investigator once the offender is in custody,” Det Sen Sgt Higgins said.

“We are a proactive investigative unit, so we have the resources and ability to use intelligence to focus our response at short notice on an individual offender, giving us a greater chance of tracking them down faster and holding them to account.”

The taskforce was set up in 2015 in response to recommendations from the Royal Commission into Family Violence.

Initially, the main role of the taskforce was to investigate historical reports of family violence involving multiple victims, where offenders had not previously been investigated.

However, in 2021, the scope of the taskforce expanded, allowing it to provide increased assistance to divisional family violence investigation units to further strengthen Victoria Police's ability to manage high-risk family violence offenders.

“There are almost 100,000 family violence incidents a year in Victoria and that’s just the number of incidents that get reported to police,” Det Sen Sgt Higgins said.

“This means there’s a huge workload for frontline members and specialist family violence investigators.

“We conduct proactive, planned operations and days of action with local police across the state, focusing on family violence offenders with enforceable actions like outstanding warrants and the service of intervention orders.

“While we are doing this work, regional resources are freed up to progress other cases, ensuring the safety of victims remains a priority.”

The job of locating these serious offenders is one that has expanded the FVC Taskforce’s work beyond the Victorian borders.

“Over the past 18 months, our taskforce investigators have identified several recidivist family violence offenders who have relocated interstate,” Det Sen Sgt Higgins said.

“Some have fled Victoria with numerous outstanding warrants for family violence offending and now reside in another state, committing family violence against either the same victim or a new one.

“But state borders are not a barrier to us. We track these offenders down and extradite them to Victoria, holding them to account and applying for them to be remanded in custody while they await court.”

The taskforce has built relationships with other police jurisdictions across the country, particularly counterparts in interstate family violence teams, and even helps to arrest offenders on behalf of other states.

“Recently we arrested an offender in Victoria on behalf of the Northern Territory Domestic and Family Violence Unit, so their detectives could apply for his extradition to the NT,” Det Sen Sgt Higgins said.

“We are proud of the work we are doing in this space as we continue to enhance our working relationships with our interstate counterparts.

“Family violence is not unique to Victoria or Victoria Police. We take this offending extremely seriously and will continue to work with police across Australia to protect the community.”

The FVC Taskforce helped locate and arrest 162 offenders in Victoria and conducted eight interstate extraditions of serious offenders in 2023.

“This offending can result in significant trauma and have a life-long impact on victims,” Det Sen Sgt Higgins said.

"While we are just one part of a bigger picture when it comes to Victoria Police's family violence response, I know the work my team does is very important."

It’s work that is continuing to evolve, with a further expansion to the taskforce’s remit late last year to include supporting sexual offences and child abuse investigation teams.

“We can now also help with locating missing children who are at a high risk of child sexual exploitation and we can target the offenders linked to these crimes,” Det Sen Sgt Higgins said.

“If we can get these offenders off the street and hold them accountable for their actions, we are sending a strong message that this offending will not be tolerated, and making a difference in the lives of their victims.

“That’s the most important part of any work we do – protecting vulnerable people in our community who are impacted by family violence and sexual offending.”