One-stop shop idea for victims of violence

Gael Strack and Dr George McClane. Picture / Simon Baker

Visiting experts say "one-stop shops" for victims of domestic violence would save lives and get more abuse sufferers to come forward.

Most New Zealand murders are domestic-related, and Gisborne, Nelson and Christchurch have been suggested as potential sites for the country's first such centre.

It would be modelled on the highly successful San Diego Family Justice Centre, which brings police, social workers, counsellors, doctors, lawyers and prosecutors together under one roof.

Prosecutor Gael Strack and Dr George McClane, both from the San Diego centre, told a Christchurch audience yesterday that the idea was to save distressed victims from having to front up to various government and non-profit agencies scattered across a city.

At the centre victims could get food, shelter, medical help, legal advice, protection orders and - if they wished - make a complaint with police.

Cases were also investigated and prepared for prosecution at the centre.

The Americans' call comes a month after Principal Family Court Judge Peter Boshier told a hui domestic violence was a scourge which must be addressed by the whole of society.

Judge Boshier said over half the murders in New Zealand were the result of domestic violence.

Police statistics show a growing rate of callouts to domestic disputes. In 2002-03 there were 24,700 callouts. In 2004-05 it was 30,692.

Mrs Strack said: "We are making it much easier for victims of domestic violence and their children to seek services, and because they are seeking services, we are seeing our homicide rate drop dramatically."

In 1985, San Diego averaged 30 domestic violence homicides a year. So far this year there had been one.

"It is probably the biggest initiative San Diego has done in the past 20 years. I didn't realise how empowering it was going to be for all of us until we had this army of people all working together," Mrs Strack said.

Centres had since sprang up across the United States, and in Canada, Mexico and Australia.

Mrs Strack urged New Zealand to follow. "All we can do is hope we can impact on the next generation, and the next."

She said Christchurch could be a good spot for the country's first family justice centre.

Inspector Rob Veale, head of the police Violence Reduction Unit, said it was not for police to decide where a centre could be set up.

He told the Herald it would be up to energetic communities to get centres running in their own cities and towns.

Police in Nelson had been trying for two years to set up a centre similar to the one in San Diego, but had met widespread resistance.

Mrs Strack said it had not been easy bringing the various organisations together in San Diego. The idea was born in 1989, and it took 13 years.

When she originally asked the city's police what it would take to get some of their staff to shift into the centre "you would have thought that the room was set on fire".

The national manager of the National Collective of Independent Women's Refuges, Heather Henare, welcomed any move to increase resources for combating domestic violence, but had doubts about the "one-stop shop" idea.

"For New Zealand, I think it is slightly unrealistic in the current environment since the Government can't adequately fund the services we have got now. Ideally, what we probably need to be concentrating on is what services we have and how we fund them.

The Government had already spent $15 million establishing family safety teams that brought agencies together.