South Australia Police makes 80 arrests in July targeting DV offenders

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Police in South Australia have made 80 arrests in July during their first dedicated anti-domestic abuse operation. Police attended nearly 400 addresses targeting more than 260 known offenders.

Transcript

00:00This action, named Operation Storm, was carried out by South Australian officers last month.

00:07They targeted 265 known offenders and attended almost 400 addresses and as you mentioned,

00:13it resulted in 80 arrests being made in just that one month alone.

00:18It also included 148 charges being laid, a number of intervention orders being issued

00:23and dozens of referrals to offender rehabilitation services.

00:28Police say the alleged offences were wide ranging and included breaches of bail and

00:33intervention orders, aggravated assault, stalking, strangulation and unlawful imprisonment.

00:39Police here say that this is the first statewide and dedicated anti-domestic abuse operation

00:45in South Australia.

00:47Deputy Commissioner Linda Williams says that the prevalence of domestic violence in South

00:51Australia shows the need to crack down harder on perpetrators as well as send a warning

00:56to would-be offenders.

00:58Let's take a listen.

00:59What I can say is in 22-23, the rate of domestic abuse might as reported to SEPA was over 22,000.

01:08That is increasing, that is of concern, but as I say, one of the indicators may be a confidence

01:14in reporting, but we have to work hard to gain that confidence because we do understand

01:19it takes some victims approximately seven attempts to come forward and report matters

01:25to police.

01:26Now, the announcement of these results comes after a weekend of rallies calling for the

01:30eradication of domestic family and sexual violence across the country.

01:35And there's been a renewed focus on domestic violence here in South Australia following

01:39the violent deaths of four women in the space of just one week in November.

01:43Those deaths led to calls for a Royal Commission and South Australia launched an inquiry back

01:48in June.

01:49Now, police say that the core aims of Operation Storm are for the prevention of violence and

01:54the protection of victims, and this focus is now expected to be an ongoing part of police

01:59operations here in South Australia moving forward.

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