Queensland police regularly misidentify the victims of domestic violence, with a lawyer telling an inquiry that a woman was subjected to a protection order due to scratches she inflicted in self-defence when her partner was strangling her.
In another case, officers wrongly identified a deaf First Nations woman as a perpetrator despite making no effort to communicate with her, a lawyer from the Queensland Indigenous Family Violence Legal Service told the inquiry.
Thelma Schwartz, the QIFVLS’s principal legal officer, told the inquiry into police responses to domestic violence that officers regularly take the side of perpetrators who were “calm and quiet”.
“There will be a woman there, she will otherwise be covered in blood, she might be holding an instrument,” Schwartz said.
“They [police officers] will see a man sitting there very quiet and calm, they will go to him and speak with him. She will become probably irate. They will then treat her as the aggressor.”
Schwartz said First Nations victims were overrepresented in the criminal justice system and wrongly identified as perpetrators of domestic violence in Queensland every week.
“It is not uncommon on a weekly basis … for [First Nations] clients to approach us seeking assistance because they have been turned away from police stations when they make complaints of domestic and family violence,” she said.
Hayley Grainger, the principal lawyer of North Queensland Women’s Legal Service in Cairns, told the inquiry of a case where police treated a victim with “disbelief” and refused to apply for a protection order on her behalf. This was despite the perpetrator’s long history of violence against his former partners.
When the woman later applied for a protection order, an officer told her they would let the perpetrator know, the inquiry heard.
“[That] obviously increased her risk of [violence and] decreased her safety because she was still living under the roof at that time,” Grainger said.
“There was … lots of talk about motorbikes in the back yard. Lots of ‘mate, mate mate’ conversations.
“She said that she would never call the police again.”
Grainger said rape in marriage was “still a foreign concept” for many male officers and there was “entrenched racism” within the police force.
She said police would often refuse to defend victims when perpetrators file cross applications for domestic violence orders against them.
Sandra Keogh, the chief executive of the Cairns Regional Domestic Violence Service, said officers had shrugged off death threats and dismissed domestic violence in LGBTQ+ relationships as “two men just having a go at each other”.
Schwartz told the inquiry some First Nations women feared reporting domestic violence due to concerns that child protection services could get involved and their children taken from them.
“If she’s taken into custody … then you have a dissociation about where do her children go. That’s where child protection come in and you see children being removed or split up,” Schwartz said.
A Queensland police service spokesperson said the QPS “will work with the commission of inquiry to examine any issues raised.
“The QPS is committed to working towards a safer community for our First Nations peoples including through engagement with local stakeholders to tailor approaches to prevent harm, raise awareness of reporting options and in building trust and maintaining community confidence in the QPS.”
The inquiry resumes in Townsville on Thursday, with hearings scheduled for Brisbane next week.
In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org.
