Family Harm

Question 1

What is the ‘Police Policy Statement’ say regarding Family Harm?

Answer 1

• Family Harm is a HIGH PRIORITY for Police and reducing the number and impact of Family Harm episodes is a KEY Police Strategy.
• Police take every opportunity to prevent harm and reduce offending and victimization.
• Police is committed to a prompt, effective and nationally consistent approach to Family Harm episodes in collaboration with other agencies/iwi and with community partners.

Question 2

What are the 6x PRINCIPLES that Guide Police Practice relating to Family Harm?

Answer 2

(E.C.S.C.A.W.)

1. Early Intervention
2. Culturally Appropriate
3. Safety
4. Collecting Risk Information
5. Accountability
6. Working Collaboratively

Question 3

What are ‘Police Actions’ under EARLY INTERVENTION?

Answer 3

• Recognizing that early intervention helps to STOP and PREVENT family harm.
• This requires an EYES WIDE OPEN approach at all family harm investigations.

Question 4

What are ‘Police Actions’ under CULTURALLY APPROPRIATE?

Answer 4

• RESPONSES to family harm should be CULTURALLY APPROPRIATE and in particular responses involving Maori should reflect tikanga.
• This requires a sensitive approach at all family harm investigations that acknowledges the culture of those involved and provides culturally appropriate solutions, as relevant.

Question 5

What are ‘Police Actions’ under SAFETY?

Answer 5

• Ensuring all parties are made safe and kept safe, particularly Victims, whose SAFETY is PARAMOUNT. This may include facilitating access to Support Services to help SECURE SAFETY.
• Children are especially vulnerable and before leaving the premises, attending officers must ensure they have no concerns regarding any child’s safety.
• Officers must also be aware that attending family harm episodes is one of the most dangerous parts of their job and that precautions may be necessary to secure their own safety.

Question 6

What are ‘Police Actions’ under COLLECTING RISK INFORMATION?

Answer 6

• Collecting specific risk information to enable effective assessment, planning and risk management to Victims and to guide decisions around appropriate actions for offenders.
• Family Harm processes include the SAFVR measure and dynamic risk assessment at the scene which combined determine the total concern for safety.
• The total concern for safety also contributes to a multi-agency risk score when combined with the risk assessed by other agencies.

Question 7

What are ‘Police Actions’ under ACCOUNTABILITY?

Answer 7

• Holding PREDOMINANT AGGRESSORS and OFFENDERS to account for their actions, by activating a prompt and comprehensive response.
• This includes undertaking a thorough quality family harm investigation and where evidence of criminal offending exists, the decision to charge and filing of a charge will reflect the nature of the offending and be made in accordance with the Solicitor-Generals Prosecution Guidelines.
• Where offenders may benefit from supportive Interventions to change their behaviours, directing them into programmes that will stop and prevent harm.

Question 8

What are ‘Police Actions’ under WORKING COLLABORATIVELY?

Answer 8

• Police MUST:
  . Coordinate responses to family harm through Family Violence Coordinators/Family Harm Specialists across relevant internal work groups, including FHT’s, CPT’s, ASA Teams, Youth Aid and Youth Education Teams, CIB, Iwi/Pacific and Ethnic Liaison Officers and other Frontline employees.
  . Be part of a coordinated collaborative multi-agency table response that aims to enhance information sharing and meet the multiple and varied needs of families
  . Provide quality information to multi-agency tables which enables the best support for families in need
  . Apply active case management principles and processes.

Question 9

What are the 3 “Characteristics” of Family Harm?

Answer 9

1. Vulnerabilities
2. Compounding Factors
3. Negative Behaviours

Question 10

Explanation of “Characteristics of family harm?

Answer 10

• Family harm encapsulates a holistic view of the issues occurring within families and their ensuing detrimental effects.
• The harm generated within families is caused by multiple factors that tend to exist against a backdrop of adverse circumstances.

Question 11

Examples of VULNERABILITIES?

Answer 11

• Lack of life skills
• Lack of parenting skills
• Lack of adequate social networks
• Lack of education
• Health issues

Question 12

Examples of COMPOUNDING FACTORS?

Answer 12

• Unemployment
• Deprivation / Poverty
• Inadequate housing
• Negative cultural attitudes

Question 13

Examples of NEGATIVE BEHAVIOURS?

Answer 13

• Family violence
• Child abuse and neglect
• Sexual violence
• Alcohol abuse and illicit drug use

Question 14

What are examples of “Long-term Negative Outcomes” as a result of these Adverse Circumstances? (Vulnerabilities, Compounding factors, Negative behaviours)

Answer 14

• Adverse Social/Economic outcomes
• Dysfunctional families
• Criminality
• Adverse health outcomes
• Mental health issues
• Adverse educational outcomes

Question 15

What are the “wide-reaching societal consequences from family harm”?

Answer 15

• Crime
• Poor physical and mental health and poverty
• The costs from failing to address family harm are extremely high.
• Maori are grossly over-represented in family harm statistics, both offending and victimization, and across all areas of the VULNERABILITIES, COMPOUNDING FACTORS, and NEGATIVE BEHAVIOURS. This in part stems from the historical trauma Maori suffered.

Question 16

What do we have to remember about family harm?

Answer 16

It is important to remember family harm can impact anyone, including occurring in families who are affluent. All family harm investigations require an open mind.

Question 17

What is Family Violence?

Answer 17

• Family Violence is a sub-set of Family Harm.
• Family Violence includes PHYSICAL, SEXUAL or PSYCHOLOGICAL ABUSE within domestic relationships.
• There may be behaviour that is coercive or controlling and causes cumulative harm. It can be a single episode or a number of episodes forming a pattern of behaviour or series of events.
• An act of violence is often an escalation of an on-going pattern of coercion and control.

Question 18

What is an example of a “Model” used to understand Coercion and Control in Family Violence?

Answer 18

• The Duluth Power and Control Wheel.
• It highlights the tactics of abuse most universally experienced by battered women.
• Tactics include INTIMIDATION, ISOLATION, EMOTIONAL and ECONOMIC ABUSE and USING CHILDREN TO MANIPULATE.

Question 19

What is another example that ‘helps to explain the complexity of Family Harm’?

Answer 19

• Entrapment and Resistance.
• Victims are trapped by an abusive partners coercive and controlling behaviours.
• Victims of family harm commonly suffer from low self-esteem and isolation caused by the violent behaviour.
• Victims are unable to act or to leave the violent relationship for many reasons, including the fear of further violence.
• Victims often need external help to extract them and may use violence to wrench themselves free.

Question 20

What are the majority of Family harm investigations do Police record?

Answer 20

• Intimate Partner Violence
• The Predominant Aggressor is mostly male and the Primary Victim - female.
• Men’s violence is more likely to result in Serious Injury and Intimidation and Fear. Women are more likely to use violence in self-defence (resistive violence).

Question 21

What involvement do children have in family harm episodes?

Answer 21

• Children are typically present at half of all family harm episodes.
• Children can be exposed to family harm, be witnesses of family harm and/or be Victims of Child Abuse and Neglect.
• Children are particularly vulnerable to family harm, including seeing or hearing harm against others. They are at risk of lasting harm to their current and future wellbeing.

Question 22

What IMPACTS do family harm episodes have on children?

Answer 22

• Difficulty learning
• Becoming an Offender or Victim
• Increased chance of mental illness and suicide
• Increased chance of alcohol and/or drug abuse
• Difficulty forming attachment
• There is evidence that exposure to significant stress whilst pregnant, can impact the development of babies in utero.

Question 23

Is Intimate Partner Violence and Child Abuse and Neglect separate types of violence?

Answer 23

• There is a high rate of co-occurrence between intimate partner violence and child abuse and neglect but these are not necessarily separate forms of violence.
• There can be a double level of intentionality where an act directed towards one individual is intended to affect another or others in order to keep and/or increase control over both.
• It is important to note a family harm investigation could also identify CYP in the role of Predominant Aggressor.

Question 24

What other vulnerable people are likely to be affected by family harm episodes?

Answer 24

• People with disabilities and other people may also be particularly vulnerable to family harm.

Question 25

What impact does technology have with regards to family harm?

Answer 25

• An area of increasing concern is the use of technology in family harm.
• Use of technology provides aggressors with a pervasive way of control, coerce, stalk and harass their Victims.
• It includes a range of behaviours. These include sending abusive text messages or emails, making continuous threatening phone calls, spying and monitoring Victims through the use of tracking systems, abusing Victims on social media sites, and sharing intimate photos of the Victim without their consent (revenge porn).

Question 26

Explain “Police bail for family violence offences”?

Answer 26

• The procedure for considering whether to grant Police bail for a person charged with a family violence offence are set out in the Bail Act 2000.
• When deciding whether to grant Police bail, the Primary consideration is the Safety of the Victim and their Family members, linking the Victim to appropriate support and services, and the possible need for the Defendant to have a Cooling Off Period to ensure the Victims safety.
• Any condition may be imposed on bail that a Police employee considers necessary to protect the Victim and their family members.

Question 27

Explain “Restrictions on Police bail if a Protection Order is breached”?

Answer 27

• Note that if the person has been arrested under S. 113 of the Family Violence Act 2018 and charged with an offence against S. 112 - they must not be granted Police bail during the 24 hours immediately following the arrest unless there is a Court hearing earlier that this where Court Bail can be determined.
• This also applies when the person is charged with another offence in addition to the breach offence.
• The arrested person must be brought before a Court as soon as possible.
• At the expiry of the 24 hour period and pending a Court Appearance, follow standard procedures for determining whether the person should be granted Police bail.
• The need to protect the Victim of the alleged offence and their family members, and all protected persons, is the Paramount Consideration for the Court when determining whether to grant bail.

Question 28

What is the process when “Authorising Police Bail”?

Answer 28

• You must have the authority of a supervisor of or above the position level of Sergeant before releasing a family violence Defendant on Police bail.
• In most cases, there is a presumption that a Defendant is to be bailed.
• Any opposition to bail must fit within criteria detailed in S. 8 of the Bail Act, which includes whether there is a risk to the Victim and their family members, and all protected persons.
• S. 8(5) of the Bail Act also provides that the need to protect the Victim of the alleged offending is the PARAMOUNT CONSIDERATION when deciding whether to grant bail for breaching a Protection Order.

Question 29

Explain what considerations are made for BAIL CONDITIONS?

Answer 29

• Bail conditions should ALWAYS be tailored so that they are SPECIFIC and RELEVANT to the Defendants identified risks and/or offending.
• In Family Violence cases, conditions MUST reflect the need to ensure the Victims Safety and that of their family members and all protected persons.

Question 30

Explain “Electronic Monitoring Bail and Police Safety Orders”?

Answer 30

• If a person on Electronic Monitoring (EM) bail is served with a PSO relating to the address at which they are required to reside at, they will be unable to remain there for the duration of the order and therefore unable to comply with standard condition 5 of their bail bond.
• Note that an incident of Family Harm at an EM address is likely to bring to attention risks pertaining to continuing EM bail at that address.
• Consider opposing continuation of EM bail to that address in this situation.

TREAT ALL BAIL BREACHES AS SERIOUS.