Domestic violence in decline
The latest WA Police figures show domestic violence in the Goldfields is on the decline.
Statistics show 529 reported cases this year until the end of April.
The sanction rate, offences that have had an outcome, sits at 38 per cent, which can be attributed to delays in the court process.
In the 2012-13 reporting year, there were 731 verified cases of domestic assault with a 49.5 per cent sanction rate.
Despite these gains, domestic assault charges appear before the region's courts on a weekly basis.
Last week, two men - one from Kalgoorlie-Boulder and one from Esperance - appeared in the Kalgoorlie Magistrate's Court charged with assaulting their partners.
One man smashed an electric guitar over his partner's head while the other threw a ride-on children's toy at his partner and dragged her around by her hair.
The first man received 18 months imprisonment, while the second received a seven-month suspended imprisonment order.
Cases such as these, and their repercussions, mean Kalgoorlie police treat domestic violence cases differently from other offences.
Kalgoorlie Senior Sergeant Danny Vincent said police worked closely with the Department of Child Protection to help at-risk families.
"There's a co-location strategy where there are two family protection police officers working with an officer from the department," he said.
"They both work in the office under this strategy and work together to figure out how they can support the families.
"You won't see that in any other offence type, with so many agencies working together."
Sen. Sgt Vincent said this strategy was aimed at stopping the vicious cycle of domestic violence in which children re-enacted their parents' behaviour.
"That's why the co-location strategy, when we attend a domestic violence incident, we report if children are present," he said.
"That straight away flags it for DCP, so they know what they need to do to support the family and support the kids.
"It's a very hands-on approach to domestic violence."
Child Protection Minister Helen Morton said the Gold- fields was well resource- ed to deal with domestic violence.
"The Goldfields region features a family and domestic violence response team, which is a partnership between the DCP, WA Police and non-Government domes- tic violence services," she said.
"The response team aims to improve the safety of child and adult victims of family and domestic violence and focuses on timely and early intervention following a police call-out to a domestic violence incident."
If you experience domestic violence, contact the women's helpline on 1800 007 339, or men's on 1800 000 599.
