Police looking at improving scheme that allows disclosure of history of violence to partners

Source: Radio New Zealand

A UK criminologist is labelling New Zealand’s scheme to allow the disclosure of a partner’s history of violence as a missed opportunity to protect vulnerable people from family harm.

Dr Katerina Hadjimatheou’s report has shown applications for information from police under the Family Violence Information Disclosure Scheme (FVIDS) had fallen by nearly 75 percent in the last five years.

Police said they were considering improvements to the scheme in response to the report.

Clare Wood’s murder inspired disclosure schemes across the globe

The then-National government put the scheme in place in 2015.

FVIDS was designed to allow people – concerned for their own or their family’s safety – to be made aware of a person’s history of family violence.

Police officers could also instigate disclosure to a person of concern using the scheme.

It followed similar initiatives in England and Wales, which were put in place in response to the murder of Clare Wood by her ex-partner – a man known to police as a dangerous and serial offender – in 2009.

Hadjimatheou, a researcher for Essex University, had been canvassing disclosure schemes across the globe for nearly six years.

She said police often knew a lot about the dangers presented by perpetrators of domestic abuse – because they were serial offenders.

“But somebody who is in a relationship with that person very well may not. Or – if they are familiar with elements of that history – it’s likely to have been twisted into a self-serving narrative by the perpetrator,” Hadjimatheou said.

Hadjimatheou said New Zealand’s scheme was being hamstrung by a lack of awareness, an overly complicated application process, strict eligibility criteria and a focus on protecting privacy.

“It’s not only that it’s not being used, but it’s in serious decline. Compared to other countries the disclosure scheme is used much, much less relative to the population. And when there is an attempt to use it, it’s not very successful,” Hadjimatheou said.

She said – despite most applications being instigated by police – only 22.5 percent were approved.

Hadjimatheou said when victims and family violence support workers attempted to apply for the information, they were being turned away by police who seemed unaware of the scheme’s existence.

“The police officer at the desk is saying ‘I have literally no idea what you’re talking about’. They will go to the website and the officer will say, ‘I’m really sorry, I have know idea, I don’t know where to find the forms. Let me get a pen and paper and write some things down’ and that’s in the best case scenario. In the more typical scenario they’ll be told to go away and just to Google their partner,” Hadjimatheou said.

Have you applied for information using FVIDS? Email Bill.Hickman@rnz.co.nz

Hadjimatheou said the panel tasked with approving applications consisted primarily of a senior police officer and a legal advisor.

One officer interviewed for the report described how the police focus on reducing risk of family harm was regularly overridden by privacy concerns and the risk of litigation following a disclosure.

“It sits in law designed to protect the privacy of civilians against other civilians and against the state. The whole process for making a disclosure is seen through that lens unfortunately. It is a hugely sceptical lens, ‘Why do you want this information, what do you want it for?’ and the bar is very high for police to persuade the panel that authorises disclosures that this is not a violation of privacy.

“So the process becomes a legal process designed to protect the police against litigation by perpetrators of domestic abuse unhappy that their criminal histories have been shared,” Hadjimatheou said.

There was no online portal to enable people to apply for the scheme – subsequently a successful disclosure process could require up to three visits – in person – to police.

FVIDS process can add to victim’s risk

Principal policy advisor for the Women’s Refuge Natalie Thorburn said victims should never be expected to put immense effort into a process that is likely to be unsuccessful.

“For every time that they do it, it’s more likely to be detected by the person who might be monitoring their behaviour and their actions and their locations. Taking that action – in of itself – is a risk so what the outcome is will either make things worse or make things better. If most of the applications are being declined then overall it’s making things worse,” Thorburn said.

Dr Hadjimatheou’s report was published and supplied to police in June.

Police respond to report

National manager of family harm prevention, Inspector Natasha Allan said the annual Family Harm Co-ordinator’s Course had been enhanced in response to the report.

She said the 250 people taking the course – from police and community agencies – would now gain a clear understanding of the purpose, processes, and benefits of the disclosure scheme.

Allan said police were establishing a working group to review the report’s recommendations and were considering a plan to improve their response to applications.

“FVIDS is a tool that puts potentially life-saving information in the hands of those at risk. But we acknowledge people can’t use it if they don’t know it exists. This research will help us strengthen how and when we use the scheme,” Allan said.

Proposed improvements included allowing online applications, increasing awareness of the scheme among police as well as those in the community working with families and reviewing the structure of the panel which assessed applications.

Allan said any improvements should begin to be put in place early next year.

Where to get help:

If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand