A research report into the harms enacted in the course of family violence policing. The report documents evidence from 225 Victorian frontline workers about their experiences of police responses to family violence. It finds that harmful family violence policing practices are extremely frequent and widespread across the state, and that alternative community-based response pathways for victim-survivors are urgently needed.

Key findings

• Police minimising or downplaying the violence and harm done to victim-survivors and increasing the risks of further harm.
• Police extending the violence through collusion with perpetrators, enabling of systems abuse, and the criminalisation and punishment of victim-survivors.
• Targeted, biased and discriminatory policing.
• ‘Misidentification’: police wrongfully identifying victim-survivors as perpetrators.
• Police-perpetrated family violence and institutional protection of officers who abuse.
• Police resistance to feedback and avoidance of accountability.