Alarming story nabs offender
The increasingly threatening harassment of a Southern district family violence victim has been brought to a stop thanks to the efforts of Dunedin Police and associated agencies.
Dunedin Family Violence Intervention Coordinator, Sergeant Simon Mapp, says a local family violence victim was constantly being harassed by her ex partner.
“The problem had been going on for some months. The victim has some issues which made the situation extremely hard to monitor,” he says.
“She would often become confused and wasn’t able to specify times and dates when complaining about breaches of her protection order.”
The situation resulted in a high number of repeat calls for police service.
Following problems with the victim’s family violence alarm, Simon fitted a new unit supplied by The Family Violence Funding Coordination Network Dunedin, via the Ministry of Social Development.
“Before these alarms were available, I would have had to send the original unit away, leaving the victim unprotected,” says Simon.
Soon after, during the early hours of one morning, the man entered the victim’s property, climbed into the house through a kitchen window, entered her bedroom and got into bed with her.
The victim was able to activate the alarm from the pendant which automatically alerted the monitoring service, which in turn informs Police Comms to the situation.
Once the alarm is activated, all sound is recorded by the monitoring service, providing potential evidence.
“The man had no knowledge the alarm was activated or that police had been called and were on the way,” says Simon.
“Due to an alert on the Comms Centre system we knew who he was likely to be, where he lived, and the issues surrounding the situation.
“This allowed police to be on the scene and catch him ‘red handed’ in the bedroom.” The man was arrested for burglary and breach of a protection order and is remanded in custody.
Simon says the new alarms are largely due to the good work and dedication of Inspector Karen Smith who, as Southern Area Family Violence Coordinator, worked with partner agencies to improve victim safety.
“Success stories such as this are becoming more common due to the hard work put in by frontline officers, Family Violence Intervention Coordinators, Area Family Violence Coordinators and our partner agencies all working to a common goal.”
Sergeant Simon Mapp with an example of the alarm used by the victim.
The alarm is not the only action taken. The victim is offered a comprehensive safety plan devised by Te Whare Pounamu (Dunedin Women’s Refuge) and the opportunity to attend a ‘breaking the cycle course’ giving her understanding of the cycle of abuse she’s currently in.
Approval for extra window locks and security locks was also put in place thanks to Dunedin Work and Income Family Violence Response Coordinator, Carmen Batchelor, who liaised with the relevant case and service centre managers.
Southern District Commander, Superintendent George Fraser, says the successful outcome is an excellent example of government and non-government cooperation.
“Our relationship with MSD and family violence support agencies is a demonstration of the district commitment through all phases of the response and intervention processes,” says George.
“Each role is critical, and those involved in this example can quite rightly reflect with some pride on what they achieved in the protection of a very vulnerable victim.”
