By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
FAMILY violence may not be what many people think it is.
The issue inside the homes of Casey residents at an above average rate comes in various forms and hurts victims far beyond a black eye.
Head of the Casey Family Violence Unit (CFVU) Sergeant Ian Lane said one partner exercising control over the other is the real crux of the universal problem.
“Family violence comes in the non-physical form as well as the physical such as threats, psychological, economical and verbal abuse,” Sgt Lane said.
“Awareness campaigns that show victims with black eyes often bring it home for people but don’t highlight other forms that women are falling victim to.”
With 37 years’ experience in the force and 15 of them patrolling the streets of Casey Sgt Lane has been in charge of the CFVU for two years and said threats and economical abuse is what he sees most of.
“Contrary to popular belief, most of our work isn’t offences of physical violence,” he said.
“We see economical abuse where one partner is being held against their will and threats are made to take away credit cards or the partner is only given $10 or $15 a week to live off.
“Or money is only provided for household costs and nothing is left for them to buy things they may want.”
Sgt Lane said controlling male partners who solely delegate finances can also segregate their partner as well.
“Isolating a partner and ensuring they don’t leave the home and aren’t allowed to mix in a social circle or make friends is another form of abuse,” he said.
Coercive and threatening behaviour in a non-sexual manner is another facet of family violence and Sgt Lane said such abuse can come in very simple ways.
“Threats like ‘if dinner is not on the table by the time I am home’ I will do such and such to you and a lot of verbal, emotional abuse goes on with this type of family violence,” he said.
The typical family violence offender is a male aged 18 to 45 years old and Sgt Lane said the CFVU doesn’t see a lot of female offenders.
“Females assaulting males may not be reported to same level but I could count on one hand the number of those incidents over the last couple of months,” he said.
Sgt Lane encourages anyone who is falling victim or knows of someone experiencing violence in the home to make a police report.
“The rise in family violence offences is a good thing,” he said.
“If family violence reports went down I’d ask myself why because I don’t know that enough is being done at the moment to stem the flow of these types of offences.
“It’s one of those things that the government and police can never do enough of to help prevent.”
