More data sharing between government agencies encouraged to help improve police responses to domestic violence

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Police say responses to family and domestic violence emergencies have improved, after a coronial inquest into the murder of a Perth woman found they failed to act quickly enough. Advocates and researchers working with police have welcomed the changes but say further cooperation with other government agencies is needed.

Transcript

00:00Lynne Cannon was 51 when she was fatally stabbed

00:06by her estranged husband, Paul, in 2022.

00:10It took an hour and three triple zero calls for police to arrive,

00:14and by that time, it was too late.

00:18Miss Cannon's family had raised concerns with police

00:22about her welfare the day she died.

00:25But police say the risk assessment matrix was outdated

00:29and relied on the perpetrator having a criminal record of violence.

00:34That shouldn't determine whether or not there is a risk.

00:36In this case, there was a break-up, there was escalating violence,

00:41and there were family members that knew that that risk was increasing.

00:43They're the things that we look at today,

00:46and that's why it would have a much greater priority

00:48when police deploy today.

00:51Miss Cannon's case was originally allocated a priority too,

00:55requiring police to attend the scene within 12 minutes.

00:59But an officer downgraded it.

01:02The aftermath of that decision forcing a change in policy.

01:06It also requires a senior supervisor to assess the reasons for the downgrade,

01:10which was not the case in Lynne's matter.

01:12The coroner acknowledged police play one part in the equation,

01:16but improving the family and domestic violence system

01:19requires cultural change in the community

01:21and, importantly, a significant boost to funding for frontline services.

01:27Alison Evans and Donna Chung are working with police

01:30to help officers gain information about potential perpetrators from other sectors.

01:36We use the information we've got available,

01:38but also keep advocating for specific items of data to be shared with police

01:45so that police can more quickly and more comprehensively be able to identify

01:50who are those most likely to cause harm.

01:53We all need to be having a very clear and shared understanding

01:57of what risk we're assessing and how we're assessing it

02:00and also a very clear and shared understanding of how we're managing that risk.

02:06A collective effort to help prevent further tragedies.

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