Victoria Police have launched a dedicated operation to tackle family and domestic violence during the coronavirus pandemic
Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Lisa Neville joined Deputy Police Commissioner Shane Patton to officially launch ‘Operation Ribbon’ which will see members of Victoria Police’s dedicated Family Violence Investigation Unit reaching out to Victorians they believe are at risk.
“Family violence doesn’t take a break while we work to slow the spread of coronavirus,” Ms Neville said.
“That’s why police are out there every day, checking on family violence victims and perpetrators.”
Deputy Commissioner Patton said there were concerns that the restrictions in place because of coronavirus may make it harder for victims to reach out for help.
He said officers would check on the wellbeing of families across the State as well as identifying and following up with known family violence perpetrators to make sure they’re complying with any conditions placed on them by the courts or family violence management plans.
He said the dedicated and specially trained taskforce was out across Victoria knocking on doors of known family violence offenders to ensure they weren’t causing any harm.
The taskforce would also be visiting victim survivors and communicating with them through a number of different channels to confirm their wellbeing and safety.
Deputy Commissioner Patton said police had already conducted 106 compliance checks on high-risk perpetrators and spoken to 241 victims across the state since the operation began last week.
Ms Neville thanked the police for the work they were doing.
“Our hard-working Victoria Police officers continue to do their job under incredibly challenging circumstances and remain dedicated to tackling the threat of family violence in our community,” she said.
