Rocketing numbers of police family violence investigations "may not be a bad thing", according to a senior Hawke's Bay police officer.
Inspector Dean Clifford says the figures, highlighted by the recent revelation that police nationwide took part in almost 119,000 "family violence investigations" last year, and in Hawke's Bay that no offence was recorded in 65 per cent of those cases, don't necessarily record any increase in actual violence.
Mr Clifford, of Eastern Police District Headquarters, says police and other agencies are encouraging families to seek help.
Calling police is one of those steps, and it can set off a wave of actions with help organisations and services.
Many of the calls may be for nothing more than a brother and sister arguing, as opposed to the intimate partner violence or parent abuse of children most commonly associated with statistics, but Mr Clifford says: "We would far rather be intervening at that stage, rather than arriving when an assault has already taken place."