Is Canberra a 'safe city'? Police got almost 2000 calls for help this year

The ACT's top cop has said about 500 of these involved assaults.

The statistic grew even more shocking when chief police officer Scott Lee estimated there were about 1600 such calls in 2023.

He said there were almost 400 arrests and more than 1100 charges laid against abusers this year.

"From the previous year that's already an 18 per cent increase in the charges laid," he said.

"The impact on communities ... on victim-survivors has meant that we need to establish a dedicated unit as we do with other serious crimes."

ACT Minister for Police Mick Gentleman joined the deputy commissioner to announce a new unit to investigate the dramatic increase in the ACT.

Mr Gentleman was confident about the team and said it would "undoubtedly" lead to better outcomes for victim-survivors.

Mr Lee said such a unit would also have - for the first time - an "intelligence capability" to better inform ACT policing and their partners around domestic and family violent risks.

"Unfortunately, instances of domestic and family violence continue to occur and reporting of these matters increases as the public understanding of this type of criminality grows," he said.

Since 2014, the chief police officer said domestic and family violence had increased by 106 per cent.

About 44 per cent of all assaults in Canberra were DFV related according to their latest annual report (2022-2023).

The High-Risk Domestic and Family Violence Investigation Unit will have 23 officers, including 14 officers already part of the existing Family Violence Unit and nine new officers.

Deputy commissioner Lee said the new unit would have experienced specialist investigators and intelligence staff.

He said general duties police officers would continue to be the first responders to calls about domestic and family violence incidents.

The new unit will respond to "higher-risk" matters to make sure police investigate and intervene earlier than before.

A 'very safe city'

In the case where it is the first time someone has been able to contact police about domestic and family violence, how do police assess risk?

The chief police officer said ACT Policing used a domestic violence risk assessment tool to determine the level of risk.

He said the tool, which includes information about each incident to indicate the level of risk, is being evaluated in comparison with those used in other states.

"I expect that [the tool] will be updated in the near future," he said.

Deputy commissioner Lee also said repeat offenders were not the only high-risk perpetrators.

"Canberra is a very safe city, but we have seen some growth in crime. Most of the crime trends have been down but family violence is still coming up," he added.

Acknowledging the "highly gendered issue", an ACT Death Review stated nine out of 12 cases revealed the DFV related murders were not a result of an increase in physical violence.

General duties officers are given five days of family violence training when they are recruited, but once they start on the job they training days "from time to time", an ACT Policing spokesperson said.

She added in February and March last year all general duties teams received a one-day family violence refresher training session.

"One of the major topics of this training was coercion and control," the spokesperson said.

ACT Policing's previous Family Violence Unit was a specialist team supporting victims and educating other general teams. the FVU was responsible for ensuring skills and knowledge of frontline police was "contemporary and aligned with community expectations".

"Where required, external subject matter experts are utilised to broaden knowledge and understanding of the family violence space," the spokesperson said.

When it comes to calling for help, support workers working with First Nations victim-survivors have repeatedly mentioned their clients fear being arrested themselves alongside their abuser.

"Misidentification of the dominant aggressor in a DFV situation is a known issue for first responding police internationally," the spokesperson said.

"DFV investigations strive to place each incident into a 'whole story' context, looking into any history of abuse in the relationship and coercive and controlling behaviours."

When it comes to domestic and family violence incidents in culturally and linguistically diverse and Indigenous communities, she said all front-line police were given two-day First Nations cultural literacy training.

"This allows officers to consider cultural differences in all interactions they have with culturally and linguistically diverse people," she said.

Victim-survivors continue to express the need for more front-line responders - such as police, support workers, and counsellors - to be recruited from various backgrounds to meet the needs of ACT's diverse communities.

Women made up 41 per cent of Canberra's police, according to their last annual report.

Just under 4 per cent of the organisation self-reported as being First Nations while about 17 per cent self-reported as being culturally and linguistically diverse.