“Changing the attitudes that men have towards women and men generally have towards violence is the key.”
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Hawkesbury Local Area Command Superintendent Steve Egginton has spoken out against domestic violence today, as part of White Ribbon Day and the pledge that police officers and communities have made to end violence against women.
An ambassador for the cause himself, Superintendent Egginton said that while domestic violence related crime has sadly remained steady in the Hawkesbury, local police were proactive in spreading the zero tolerance message on violence in the home.
“Domestic violence crime stays steady for us here unfortunately,” Superintendent Egginton said.
“As much as we would like to say there is a decrease, it's just as consistent for us.
“We're having impact right across the board in regards to our other crime, property crime and some of our violent crime are having some good inroads, but domestic violence is just a little harder.”
Superintendent Egginton said a shift in attitudinal change was needed.
He said Hawkesbury police were putting a lot of time and effort in working with other agencies to change attitudes right across the community.
“We do what we need to do in terms of an organisation when people are in danger, dealing with the situations and making sure we put that circuit breaker in place where we provide safety for victims of domestic violence.
“But then again we want to make sure that we're getting that message out across the broader community that violence in any form is not acceptable, and violence in the home particularly against women will never be accepted.”
Superintendent Egginton said that for a long time domestic violence had been one of those issues that had been kept quiet and behind closed doors.
But he believes through the strength of people such as Australian of the Year Rosie Batty, who has lead the charge for the fight against domestic violence across the country, attitudes are changing.
He also believes that people generally have a greater appreciation for the impact that it has on the community.
“If you draw an analogy of someone who sees their neighbours house being broken into, they’re going to call the police straight away,” he said.
“But we want to see is that if they see violence going on in their neighbours home we want them to ring us and we will go there and do something about it.
“It's a real cultural shift we need to have in the country and it's a real shame that we have to have those sort of discussions to begin with, but changing the attitudes that men have towards women and men generally have towards violence is that key.”
