Five police stations in South-East Queensland are to have extra Domestic Violence specialists embedded into their staff numbers in addition to any specialist DV staff already based at some of the stations.
Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Di Farmer said the move was in response to the enormous demand placed on police to respond to reports of domestic violence.
“It will greatly increase specialist capacity at these stations to respond to Queenslanders living with violence at home,” Ms Farmer said.
“An additional $75,000 will go towards two police stations on the Gold Coast to embed workers for people experiencing domestic and family violence.”
She said embedding specialist domestic and family violence workers inside police stations was based on a model presented by the Chief Executive of the Domestic Violence Prevention Centre, Rosie O’Malley.
Ms Farmer said eight high-risk domestic and family violence teams operating across Queensland would also receive funding of $300,000 to help coordinate their efforts.
“These are the men and women on the spot, from a range of Government and non-Government services, who work together to intervene when the risk of violence is high,” she said.
“While they’re already highly successful, their work requires a lot of coordination. If we can provide an additional coordination resource, then we can also help to free up frontline workers.”
Meanwhile, the Minister for Police has announced that two new domestic and family violence liaison officers had been appointed to Cairns.
The Minister, Mark Ryan said Domestic and Family Violence Units within the Queensland Police Services were critical to ending violence in the home.
“I’m pleased to help welcome Senior Constable Naomi Townsend and Senior Constable Casey Leishman (both pictured) to their new roles as liaison officers,” Mr Ryan said.
“They will play a major role working with the community to drive a shift in attitudes and behaviour when it comes to domestic and family violence.”
In addition to the two new senior constables, the unit includes three sergeants and covers the entire Far North Police District from Cardwell in the south, Croyden in the west and including the Torres Strait Islands, he said.
