Comment on An Outcome Evaluation of Police Safety Orders

8 May 2015: Shine applauds the NZ Police for commissioning an ‘Outcome Evaluation of Police Safety Orders’ (released today) as part of their major strategy to improve Police response to family violence.

The evaluation report released today concludes that PSOs have been largely effective at providing short-term safety for victims of domestic violence and any children present, and at providing a safe space for victims ‘to consider and seek support’. However, a number of concerns were identified and three areas of needed improvements were also identified, which Shine wholeheartedly agrees with and supports.

On 1 July 2010, Police Safety Orders (PSOs) were introduced as a new tool for Police in dealing with family violence. They enable frontline officers to take immediate action to protect victims of family violence when there is insufficient evidence for an arrest. PSOs are instant orders that require the primary aggressor (Bound Person) to leave the residence and not return or contact the victim(s) (Person/s At Risk) for a prescribed period of time (maximum duration five days).

It is also important to note that on 1 July 2013, the Solicitor-General released new Prosecution Guidelines that significantly raised the bar on the level of evidence required for Police to prosecute an offender, i.e. make an arrest.

The PSO Outcomes Evaluation stated 2.5% of the case files reviewed (where a PSO was issued) were deemed to have contained sufficient evidence so that an arrest should have been made. Worryingly, one-third of the files reviewed identified concerns about the quality of the investigation or file preparation.

The third area of improvement needed that was identified in the Outcomes Evaluation was to ‘Improve frontline practise to ensure PSOs are issued in accordance with policy.’

Jane Drumm, Shine Executive Director, says

“Shine frontline staff working with victims and offenders reported that PSOs are frequently issued when there appeared to have been sufficient evidence for Police to make an arrest. When an arrest could and should have been made, the offender is not receiving the really critical consequence of mandated attendance at a stopping violence programme, and the victim’s opportunity for longterm safety is being severely compromised.

However, it is difficult for Shine staff to know in these cases whether the officers issued a PSO inappropriately when an arrest should have been made, or whether the evidence did not in fact meet the threshold required by the new Prosecution Guidelines.”

The other two areas identified as needing improvement were:

1. ‘Improve the monitoring, recording process and level of consequences of breaches’

Shine Advocates frequently hear from victims that they reported a breach of their PSO to Police and rarely hear that Police have arrested for the breach. Sometimes there is no consequence imposed whatsoever, and often Police simply issue another PSO. This again may be a combination of officers not following policy, or it may be that the evidence required to arrest is not sufficient under the 2013 Prosecution Guidelines. Either way, this area of improvement is critical if PSOs are to be useful and meaningful.

2. ‘Maximise the opportunity for support’

In other words, PSOs need to be issued for a sufficient amount of time for community agencies like Shine to be able to safely contact and work with the victim while the offender is required to stay away. In our experience, the many PSOs that are issued for 24 hours do not allow this to happen, and there appears to be no criteria to guide frontline police in their decision about how long to issue the PSO for. Another problem around timing is PSOs issued on weekends, especially Friday night, when Shine Advocates do not receive the referral until Monday morning, by which time the PSO is often expired or near to expiring.

Ends

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