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Family violence: More than stats By Jaime Pitt-MacKay Jaime.p@theguardian.co.nz
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A local family violence campaigner has said while it is good to see an increase in reporting of family violence, statistics are not always reflective of reality. Information released by Police Minister Stuart Nash to Rangitata MP Andrew Falloon shows there has been a 32 per cent increase in family harm investigations in the Mid/South Canterbury police area in just three years. In the first six months of last year alone there were 1018 family harm investigations compared to 1387 in the whole of 2015. Safer Ashburton family violence co-ordinator Anna Arrowsmith said stats can be tricky.
“They are not always reflective of reality and what we don’t know. It is possible that the increase is due to both an increase in number of incidents and reporting,” she said. “We hope our awareness campaigns like White Ribbon are having an impact and sending out a message to people that family violence is not okay and encouraging people to access the help that is out there. “When family violence campaign messages are taking effect in our communities we will see an increase in reporting but that doesn’t necessarily mean that there has been an increase in family violence.” Arrowsmith said family violence includes many different forms of un-
healthy abuse such as emotional and physiological that can not be measured and are often unknown. “It does extend past only being physical violence and what we see is a much bigger picture that still needs lots of work done on it,” she said. “Family violence has always and continues to be hidden in our society and I do see that the Government is supporting new initiatives and programmes to help combat this.” Nash said in his written question response to Falloon that the Intergrated Safety Response programme has seen an increase in family harm investigations as trust and confidence in the system has grown and families are enacting their safety plans.
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