Police Crime Stats don’t tell us the story about domestic violence

Women’s Refuge congratulates the Police on their crime statistics showing a 29 year low for crime but says today’s statistics fail to give us any reliable or useable information about domestic violence.

“It remains a disappointment that crime statistics do not give us any indication about how we are tracking with domestic violence,” says Refuge spokeswoman Kiri Hannifin.

“What we are seeing today is a picture of crime in New Zealand that does not adequately include one of the most serious, insidious and under reported problems in our society.”

“In that regard it is also concerning to note that homicides have increased by 11.9% given that around half of all murders in this country are family violence related.

“ We are not seeing any decrease in our own work with women, children and families impacted by domestic violence across the country. In addition, many of the women we work with still do not report to the Police and much work needs to be done to improve this.

“We acknowledge that the Police are developing a new set of statistics that will provide information on domestic violence. This has been slow to come about which is disappointing as we believe that the lack of data and transparency around other Police held information has frustrated our work to improve outcomes for victims of domestic and family violence.

ENDS

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