Family violence ‘first’

Erin Pearson
A SURGE in reports of family violence around Geelong has prompted police to launch a new unit in the city.
Leading Senior Sergeant Brendan Whitefield said the dedicated Geelong Police Family Violence Unit was a first for the city.
He said Geelong now had “enough incidents to warrant” establishing the unit, which would focus on repeat offenders.
The Independent has reported rising levels of family violence in Geelong during the past few years.
A Salvation Army annual report noted that domestic violence had risen 60 per cent during 2008/2009 in the army’s Kardinia region of Geelong.
Snr Sgt Whitefield said a “small team” would drive the new unit.
The team would step in to family violence reports after a criminal offence had been committed and when an intervention order application was required, he said.
Snr Sgt Whitefield hoped the unit would eventually expand to cover the area surrounding Geelong.
The family violence unit was a long-held dream of police in the city, he said.
“We’ve wanted to get one up and ruining for some time.
“It’s basically an initiative that was put forward about three weeks ago and we’ve just been in a position now to get one up and running.”
Snr Sgt Whitefield said the family violence unit would also free up resources for tackling other crimes.
“Family incidents are normally processed by divisional vans and these incidents are fairly time-consuming, so we proposed put this unit together to allow divisional vans to get back on the road, spend more time on patrol and for us to deal with these incidents better,” he said.
“Our aim will now be getting people that haven’t thought about reporting domestic violence to feel confident to come forward.”
Snr Sgt Whitefield said anyone with family violence issues should contact the new Geelong unit or 000.