Crime and Justice Bulletin, 2018, no. 210 (Open access)

The Safer Pathway program has only had a limited effect on the incidence of domestic violence (DV) in NSW, according to a report released by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research today.

Under the Safer Pathway program, all women reporting domestic violence to police are assessed to determine whether they are at serious risk of repeat victimisation using a questionnaire known as the Domestic Violence Safety Assessment Tool (DVSAT). The cases of those found to be at serious risk of repeat victimisation are referred to a Safety Action Meeting (SAM), where a team of government and non-government officials develop a 'safety action plan' for the victim to reduce the risk of further victimisation.

The program was rolled out in two stages. The first stage involved the Local Area Commands (LACs) of Waverley (Eastern Suburbs, Eastern Beaches, Rose Bay and Botany Bay) and Orange (Canobolas LAC). The second stage involved the LACs of Bankstown, Broken Hill, Parramatta and Tweed Heads/Byron.

To evaluate the program, BOCSAR matched each of the treatment LACs just referred to with a similar LAC where the SAMs were not operating. It then conducted two sets of analyses on these matched pairs. The first compared the treatment and comparison groups as a whole within each stage. The second examined differences in outcomes between the matched pairs.

Seven different measures of domestic violence were examined; including the number of reported domestic violence (DV) related assaults, the number of people (POIs) arrested for a DV-related incident and the number of police call-outs to DV related incidents.

No significant improvements were observed for any of the Stage 1 sites. In the Stage 2 sites, the number of DV incidents, the number of POIs proceeded against for DV and the number of DV victims all fell by 0.8% per month. From the website). See also the latest evaluation of the DVSAT screening tool used in New South Wales (#5836). Record #5835