Police Safety Orders (PSOs)are making victims safer

Shine agrees with the conclusions of the report on Police Safety Orders being released today by New Zealand Police. The vast majority of victims Shine works with who have received a PSO were very glad that the PSO was issued, and say that it helped them.

9 May 2012: Shine surveyed all Auckland Central victims of domestic abuse that received a PSO in the first year of implementation. Most of our clients who responded to the survey, have told us they were very glad that the PSO was issued, and that it increased their safety.

“More than 90% of our clients who have received a PSO have told us that it helped to make them safe,” says Jill Proudfoot, Services Director of Shine.

“The time during which they were protected by the Order was important to give them time to rest and think through what they wanted to do next.” Further, these women told Shine that there have been relatively few breaches of their PSOs. As these orders can be issued for a duration of one to five days, Shine has also found that Auckland Police have more commonly made PSOs for the longer period of time. This has been helpful to give victims the maximum amount of time to put in place a safety plan.

Shine has supported the concept of Police Safety Orders since the idea was announced by Police some years ago.

Shine staff visited Perth and California in 2006 where similar orders had already been in use for some years. A range of domestic abuse advocates and specialists in those places, overwhelmingly found these kinds of police-issued, short term safety orders to be helpful for victims of domestic abuse. In particular these types of orders were found to provide a ‘window of time’ for advocates to safely meet with victims to help them plan for safety, and that it was helpful for the victims to be made safer with police-issued orders without having to bear the onus of blame from the person at risk.

These in fact are three of the “perceived benefits of PSOs” mentioned from page 33 of the report: Increased safety, Access to support, Removing the onus from the person at risk. These three benefits have been echoed by Shine’s clients who have received PSOs.

“Police Safety Orders fit very well with the Shine philosophy of keeping victims of domestic abuse safe in their own homes, and placing the responsibility for the abuse where it belongs” says Jill Proudfoot. ends

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