New South Wales Police consider Supreme Court order to stop domestic violence killings

Some of those arrested “clearly frightened me,” Smith said, adding, “Given the years of organized crime behind me and the tactics all around. [Strike Force} Raptor and applying strategies that suppress behaviour, it concerns me that individuals like this are out in public”.

He is looking at how tactics used to prevent other forms of serious violent crime can be deployed against domestic violence.

“In counter-terrorism we have the Fixated Persons Unit, in child protection we have the registry, obviously with organised crime we have Raptor,” he said. “We use those strategically and tactically to suppress behaviour that goes hand in hand with [violence]”

According to Smith, police have recently used SCPO to successfully suppress organized crime-related murders in the Supreme Court, and “we believe domestic violence needs the same tactics.”

Assistant Commissioner for Sydney South West and former Chief of the State Crime Command, Smith leads the NSW Police Domestic Violence and Domestic Violence Response and is responsible for operations at Amarok.

He works closely with Deputy Police Commissioner Mar Runyon, NSW Police’s Domestic Violence and Domestic Violence Corporate Sponsor and former State Crime Commander, on domestic violence reform projects.

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The pair hope Operation Amarok will be to domestic violence criminals what Raptor Team is to biker gangs. It is a ubiquitous presence with frequent raids and arrests, and serves as a constant reminder that criminals are never far from the rule of law.

Runyon said domestic violence had proven “almost intractable” and police had responded to 17 domestic violence murders in 2022. That’s more than one death each month, more than double his number of gang-related murders during the same period.

Last year, there were over 139,000 police calls for assistance related to domestic violence and 33,000 cases of personal assault.

He said each of these figures “could represent victims, many children, and a series of loved ones.”

The devastating impact of domestic violence “means it’s everyone’s problem and something we as a community can come together to improve,” he said.

support is National Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Counseling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

Crisis Support is available from Lifeline (13 11 14) and Beyond Blue (1300 22 4636).

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