The research 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. The report details extensive examples of police minimising and dismissing family violence, engaging in racially targeted, sexist and discriminatory police practices, colluding with perpetrators in ways that extend violence and abuse, and misidentifying victim-survivors as perpetrators. It also shows that many workers have witnessed cases of police-perpetrated family violence as well as widespread institutional protection of, and collusion with, offices who are abusive.
