“The behaviour you walk past is the behaviour you accept. Don’t be an innocent bystander.”
These were the words of Blue Mountains Police Superintendent Darryl Jobson, who urged residents to report domestic violence in the wake of a NSW Police and Crime Stoppers campaign which challenges the community to get involved.
The ‘No Innocent Bystanders’ video campaign highlights the reality of domestic violence while demonstrating how the community can report incidents anonymously via Crime Stoppers.
Blue Mountains Detective Chief Inspector Dietmar Almer said: “Across the board in NSW it [domestic violence] is one of the highest categories we deal with.
“The Blue Mountains is not immune to domestic violence,” Insp Almer said, adding that Blue Mountains police dealt with domestic violence incidents daily.
“There’s a massive ripple effect with respect to domestic violence. It’s not just the offender and the victim, in a lot of instances children are innocent victims, whether asleep at the time or awake listening to it.”
Senior Constable Lisa Banks has specific training in handling domestic violence cases.
She said the campaign was great because it took ownership away from the victim to speak up, as they were often too frightened to, and encouraged the community to get involved.
“If people see fighting in the street they would stop it. This is no different,” Const Banks said.
“Some people think it’s domestic violence, I can’t get involved, but it’s a community problem.”
The number of reported cases of domestic violence in NSW alone is staggering.
Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said: “In NSW, police respond to more than 145,000 incidents of domestic and family violence each year, which equates to about 400 cases every day.”
Anyone with information about domestic-violence crimes can call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or use the Crime Stoppers online reporting page: https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au/
If you, or anyone you know has experienced, or is at risk of family and domestic violence, contact 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) a 24-hour, family and domestic violence counselling line.