A Complaint form, lodged November 1957. Image Courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.
In the late 1880s prosecutions for assaults on women in the Brisbane Police Courts increased. Nearly a third of all assaults covered by the Brisbane Courier were committed on women, and occasionally between women. While on a number of occasions wives turned upon their husbands, in the majority of cases of spousal violence the wives were the victims of their partners’rage. Gender-based violence was not confined to the domestic sphere either.
The passage of time and associated progress facilitated an array of cultural and societal shifts with a tendency for violence remaining a constant.
In January 1975, the Queensland Police established a new one-of-a-kind specialised unit, the Rape Squad. The aim of the Squad was to be the first contact with any female victims in sexual offences. The all-women squad comprised of five to six police constables working on a 24-hour basis. The Squad members provided support to the victims throughout the procedural steps, including court appearances. In 1987, the Rape Squad was renamed the Sexual Victims Support Group and became absorbed into the Sexual Offenders Squad.
The associated Warrant, 1957. Image Courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.
In 1990, according to the Police Commissioner’s Annual Report, police continued to express particular concerns regarding safety issues involving women’s safety and incidence of domestic violence. In the span of five years, 1985-1990, Queensland had one of the worst rates of offences against the person of any state in Australia. The rate of serious offences was nearly double the average of the national rate. In the 1990s the Service implemented a number of additional programs and initiatives intended to enhance the safety of the public. In November 1990, the Women’s Safety Project was established. In December of the same year, a ‘go-hard’ domestic violence policy was adopted by the Service. Under this policy Police were instructed to act on complaints of violence arising from domestic disputes by charging the offenders wherever evidence of criminal offence emerged.
And, the Minute of Conviction, 1957. Image Courtesy of the Queensland Police Service.
As domestic violence continued to be a serious problem in Queensland, a temporary Domestic and Family Violence Unit was established in October, 2007. By 2009, statistical figures indicated a 40 per cent drop in all areas of domestic violence. Offences such as assault, stalking, wilful damage and public nuisance, also showed significant decline.
The Rape Squad, 1977. Image PM3641 Courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.
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This information has been supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available at the time of writing. The article was written by Museum Volunteer and Crime and Policing Historian Dr Anastasia Dukova.
The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Friday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au
“FROM the VAULT – Assaults” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode