Police ‘casual’ on battered women calls

Press, 20 April 1982, Page 22

Police ‘casual’ on battered women calls

Police responses to calls from battered women are sometimes “so casual that the police come and go without even recognising that they have been called to a potentially murderous conflict,” according to Dr John Church.

Dr Church and his wife, Ms Doris Church, have written a booklet which strongly criticises? the way the police respond to calls from battered women. Called “The Police and You,” it is the fourth publication put out by the Christchurch-based Battered Women’s Support Group. "The support group has now advised more than 600 battered women,” Dr Church said. “It is clear from the experiences of these women that when the police respond to calls from battered women, they regularly decline to take a formal complaint. They only rarely investigate the reason why they have been called and they hardly ever do anything to deter future offences.”

The 32-page booklet, which will be available for $3 a copy, is dedicated to a woman who made repeated

calls to the police. She was shot to death by her estranged husband 24 hours after her last call for help. The booklet calls for changes in the ways the police treat domestic calls. It says that the police have to sort out the cases of serious domestic violence from the routine domestic disputes. The booklet, which is also addressed to men who are beaten by their wives, describes what the police can and cannot do, when the police should be called, the causes of domestic violence, and the support services available to battered women.

“Our main aim in writing the book was to impress upon battered women that they must telephone the police whenever their safety is threatened,” Dr Church said. “This is especially important when it is realised that in New Zealand something like one woman a week loses her life as a direct or indirect result of domestic violence.” Dr Church is a senior lecturer at the University of Canterbury. Ms Church is the co-ordinator of the Battered Women’s Support Group.