DV SQUAD TO RID THE STREETS OF ‘MONSTERS’
Failure by multiple police to take seriously a woman’s cries for help in the weeks leading up to her death show we are completely missing the mark and more must be done
OF all the thankless jobs, being a cop has to be right up there. There’s the psychological torment of constantly dealing with the dregs of society, and of course the likelihood of seeing a dead person in a car accident, including a child.
Then there’s the ever present danger of being killed or maimed. Do you go to work each day knowing that there’s a chance you will not come home?
It’s a tough gig. That’s why when we talk about domestic violence and the protection of women, we must not shoot the messenger.
However, something needs to change – and quickly. Training needs to be much more empathetic and decisive.
The coronial inquest this week at Southport courthouse into the murder of Doreen Langham has exposed glaring anomalies in the way police handled the case.
Ms Langham was “basically told to go away and not come back” by police in the days before she was murdered by her abusive ex-partner.
University academic and criminologist Kerry Carrington prepared a 40-page report on Ms Langham’s death in February last year and told the inquest the 49-year-old had interactions with
In a scathing assessment of the handling of Ms Langham’s plight, Professor Carrington said police had failed ‘at every turn’.
16 different police officers at three different stations in the weeks leading up to her death and “none took her seriously”.
In a scathing assessment of the handling of Ms Langham’s plight, Professor Carrington said police had failed “at every turn”.
“There was just error after error after error,” she said.
“There was a calamity of errors.
“Five times in the week before she died (she went to police) and all but one told her to basically go away and not come back.
“She was failed at every turn.
“It culminated in a catastrophic failure.”
She said she had listened to four phone calls Ms Langham made to police and could not
believe the matter was not treated more seriously.
“She was desperate, absolutely desperate,” she said.
“None of that seemed to get through to the police who picked up the phone.”
It’s bizarre, even woeful stuff. A lack of adequate training, an inability to enforce an apprehended violence order, and the likelihood of complacency have combined to make vulnerable women even more vulnerable.
If they can’t turn to police, who can they turn to?
For every case where a woman is killed by a partner or ex-partner, police would see hundreds where the threat is nullified.
There are too many Doreen Langham examples falling through the cracks. The most dangerous place in society for some women is the sanctuary of one’s own home.
In the Doreen Langham case, the warnings were chilling.
Ms Langham and her ex-partner Gary Hely died in a Browns Plains unit fire in February last year after he
assaulted her and then set the unit alight.
The inquest heard that her last moments “must have been filled with utter terror”.
The inquest was played body-worn camera footage of a police interview with an “extremely frightened” Ms Langham at her friend’s house at Marsden, three weeks before she died.
She told the two officers that Hely had told her she had better enjoy the next three weeks because she could be “T-boned, sniper shot or bashed”.
Deputy Coroner
Jane Bentley is probing the adequacy of the police response to Ms Langham’s triple-0 call the night before the fire.
She is also examining the adequacy of the police response to Ms Langham’s complaints about Hely, and will recommend whether any changes to procedures or policies are needed to prevent a similar tragedy.
A recent governmentsanctioned review, the Women’s Safety and Justice
Taskforce, offered up a raft of recommendations, particularly around coercive control.
The recommendations also addressed “improving police and judicial responses’’ and focusing on early prevention.
These are just words and cold comfort to the many women who right now feel threatened and are scared at the prospect of becoming another Hannah Clarke or Doreen Langham.
The time has come for action. Tough times call for tough measures. We can’t just keep putting the white flag up on domestic violence.
Queensland Police need a domestic violence squad, just like we have a dedicated unit for homicide and sexual assault.
These must be highly trained officers with a clear and concise agenda – to rid the streets of monsters. Proactive responses rather than reactive responses should be the goal.
It’s time we locked away perpetrators before they do the damage. Build more jails if needed. The carnage against innocent women has to stop.