Operation Amarok V began on Wednesday last week, an intelligence-based policing strategy headed by the Domestic Violence High-Risk Offender Teams (DVHROT) in each region within the state.

Over the four days, police arrested 590 people deemed high-risk domestic violence offenders. Out of those arrested, 229 people were wanted by police for serious domestic violence offences.

By Saturday, the conclusion of Operation Amarok V, 1,183 charges were laid, 5,493 Apprehended Domestic Violence Orders (ADVOs) were imposed and police undertook 131 Firearms Prohibition Order (FPO) compliance searches.

Yasmin Catley, the NSW Minister for Police and Counter-terrorism, said the success of the Operation sends a strong message to the state.

“Operation Amarok V is the largest ever crackdown on dangerous domestic and family violence offenders, with the ultimate goal being to safeguard the community and reduce the incidence of serious harm or death,” Minister Catley said.

“This operation is unique in that it involves police strategically targeting and apprehending high-risk domestic violence offenders by using criminal profiling to identify those individuals who have both the intent and the capability to commit serious offences.”

Deputy Commissioner Mal Lanyon, the NSW Police Corporate Sponsor for Domestic and Family Violence, said the operation is a positive step forward in the state’s response to the epidemic of violence in the country.

“Operation Amarok V enables us to address domestic and family violence with the seriousness it warrants, akin to organised crime and homicide,” Deputy Commissioner Lanyon said. 

“It’s about precision in targeting the most dangerous offenders; the ones who pose a significant threat to victims, to family members, to other members of the community.

“Operation Amarok V incorporates methods that enable us to find the individuals we need to target and to act swiftly and effectively in apprehending them before they have the chance to commit further serious harm.”

The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Personal Safety Survey (2021-2022) found one in four women in Australia experienced violence by an intimate partner or family member since the age of 15 years old.

Domestic violence has already killed eight women this year, according to Destroy the Joint’s Counting Dead Women. Last year, gender-based violence killed 63 women in Australia.

Last week, the Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese gave a speech to officially launch Australia’s 2024 International Women’s Day celebrations. He said the epidemic of violence against women should be addressed by government policy and response, and is “not a problem that women should have to solve”.

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A post shared by Anthony Albanese (@albomp)

“When women are seeking help, they should be heard and seen, believed, supported and empowered,” Prime Minister Albanese said.

“While women are shaping these policies and driving these responses, ending this epidemic of violence has to involve men stepping up. Because violence against women is not a problem that women should have to solve.

“Men have to be prepared to take responsibility for our actions and our attitudes. To educate our sons, to talk to our mates, to drive real change in the culture of our sporting clubs, our faith and community groups and our workplaces, including this workplace right here.”

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The four-day operation– Operation Amarok III– was spearheaded by specialist teams attached to each region. It involved every police command in NSW and concluded on Saturday.

Police claimed 139 of the 592 people arrested were identified as the state’s most dangerous domestic violence offenders, and 103 had outstanding warrants for violent offences.

A total of 1107 charges were laid for offences ranging from domestic violence and drug supply through to prohibited firearm and weapon possession. Police seized 22 guns, 40 prohibited weapons and various types of illegal drugs, including 89 drug detections.

According to Destroy the Joint– an online community working to end violence against women– twenty-five women have died of violence in Australia this year so far. This number reached a grim 57 in 2022.

In Australia, 1 in 6 women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by a partner, according to the The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s 2022 report. 

NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley said there were 139,000 calls for help and more than 33,000 domestic-related assaults in the state every year. 

“These figures show this is an epidemic,” said Catley. “We know domestic and family violence is one of the most underreported crime types.”

“Operation Amarok sends a strong message to offenders that they’re in the sights of police.”

“You’ve been warned. Your predatory behaviour will be policed to your door.”

During the operation, police engaged with high-risk domestic violence offenders on 1,169 occasions.

Officers also applied for 315 apprehended domestic violence orders (ADVOs), served 500 outstanding ADVOs, and made thousands of ADVO and bail compliance checks.

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Mal Lanyon said more than half the state’s murders were domestic violence-related.

“Amarok elevates our focus on those offenders who often display the dangerousness and violence of organised crime figures and the fixation of terrorists to ensure that we stop their offending behaviour and protect victims.”

Support is available via the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732).

Lifeline 13 11 14.

In an emergency, call 000.

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Dokhotaru’s body was found by police on Saturday night in a unit in Liverpool, seventeen hours after they had made a visit to the front of the complex upon receiving an anonymous phone call about an alleged domestic dispute late Friday night. 

According to South West Metropolitan Region Commander Assistant Commissioner Stuart Smith, the female caller did not leave her details, so when the police arrived, they “were presented with 297 units and no obvious offence in front of them.” 

“[They] were presented with a dual sky tower of 27 levels and more than 300 apartments,” Assistant Commissioner Smith said. “They were unable to determine the exact location of the anonymous call. That was referred then to every shift that followed that and further inquiries were made there.” 

According to Smith, inquiries were made throughout Saturday into who had made the phone call, though it wasn’t until another triple-0 call from a person police believe to be a neighbour, that eventually helped identify the location of Dokhotaru. 

Assistant Commissioner Smith announced a critical incident investigation would be launched to examine what had happened. 

“This morning I was briefed at about 5am, and by 8.40am I declared a critical incident investigation, additional to the homicide investigation that remains underway,” he said. 

“It’s there for me, that I can satisfy around the response to the triple-0 call.” 

“The priority given to the job, the inquiries conducted to establish that priority, the inquiries established to find the source of the anonymous triple-0 call and the officers inquiries are subject to the critical incident investigation.”

The investigation, which will analyse other circumstances of the incident, is continuing under Strike Force Midian, involving detectives from Liverpool City detectives and State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad.

Danny Zayat, 28, was arrested at the scene on Sunday and charged with stalk/intimidate intend fear physical etc harm (DV), contravene prohibition/restriction in AVO (DV) and destroy or damage property (DV). 

Assistant Commissioner Smith said Dokhotaru and Zayat were in a de facto relationship and that Zayat “shouldn’t have been” at the unit.

Zayat appeared at Parramatta bail court later that day where he was refused bail. He is due in Liverpool Local Court today. 

This latest critical incident investigation is the fourth in under a fortnight. NSW Police are also looking into the death of 95-year-old Clare Nowland, who sustained fatal injuries after being shot with a Taser, the death of 41-year old Steve Pampalian who was shot by police in North Willoughby last week, and the death of a 75-year-old man in Coffs Harbour on Tuesday.

So far this year, 14 women have been murdered due to domestic and family violence, according to Counting Dead Women Australia. 

Femicide researcher Sherele Moody believes the number is higher, posting on social media about Dokhotaru’s murder.

“Tatiana is the 22nd Australian woman lost to violence this year,” Moody wrote on Twitter.

“Questions must be answered over how it is police came to miss Tatiana on that first visit and also why a domestic violence assault call to 000 was not prioritised.” 

If you or someone you know is in need of help due to sexual assault or family and domestic violence contact 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732

In an emergency call 000. Lifeline (13 11 14) and, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, 13YARN (13 92 76)

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It has been reported the elderly woman had been found by staff holding a knife, and police were called on Wednesday afternoon. It is understood police tasered the woman after struggling to disarm her. 

The incident occurred at the Yallambee Lodge in Cooma, an aged care home run by the Snowy Monaro regional council. 

A “critical incident investigation” into the matter has been launched by police, with NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb saying the police are treating it with the “utmost seriousness”.

“My thoughts are with the family at this difficult time. I understand and share the community concerns and assure you that we are treating this matter with the utmost seriousness,” Webb said.

The 95-year-old woman is now in a critical condition at Cooma district hospital and is being monitored. 

In a statement NSW police said: 

“A critical incident investigation has been launched after an elderly woman sustained injuries during an interaction with police at an aged care facility in the state’s south today.

“A critical incident team will now investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident.

“That investigation will be subject to independent review.”

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Webb will replace outgoing commissioner Mick Fuller at the helm of the country’s largest police force in April 2022. She has served in the NSW police force for 34 years and is currently Deputy Commissioner.

“It’s a great honour and a privilege to be selected as the next Commissioner of NSW Police,” Webb said at a press conference on Wednesday.

“I’m humbled. I’ve worked 24 years in the police, I’m a career cop. I stand before you here to day ready to take on the role as police commissioner.”

Webb thanked Fuller for his “stewardship and leadership” of the NSW police force over his time in the role.

“But it’s now time for a new leader and a new direction,” she said. “One of my first priorities will be to re-engage with the community and understand what our communities expect of the NSW Police force.”

Webb, who joined the NSW Police Force in 1987, said one of her key focus as Commissioner would be on victims of crime, especially those who have been impacted by child abuse, sexual assault, and domestic violence.

“We will have a zero-tolerance for criminals,” she said.

Webb was selected for the role over fellow deputy commissioners Mick Willing and Mal Lanyon.

When Webb joined the police force in the late eighties, only 10 per cent of those in the organisation were women. She said she hopes to inspire more women to join.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said the appointment of the NSW Police Commissioner was the most important appointments the state government has responsibility for.

“I believe that Deputy Commissioner Webb has the honesty, integrity and the drive to lead the NSW Police Force at this challenging time,” Perrottet said.

“Karen has served our state for over 30 years, keeping communities safe across New South Wales with absolute distinction.

“I believe she will do a very, very good job.”

Commissioner Fuller said the future of the NSW Police Force “is in good hands”.

“Commissioner-elect Webb is a highly experienced police officer, with 34 years of serving the community behind her. She has a strong record in operational leadership roles, and has made both an outstanding Region and Specialist Commander,” Fuller said.

“It was the depth and diversity of her experience which led me to promote her twice during my tenure – from Superintendent to Assistant Commissioner in 2017, and again to her current role as Deputy Commissioner, Corporate Services in July this year.”

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In a world-first, the dating app company will start referring reports of sexual assault by its users to police, through the creation of a “portal” that could be accessed by NSW police.

Match Group may also start using artificial intelligence to “red flag” potential sexual predators on its dating apps, according to NSW Detective Superintendent Stacey Maloney.

The move from Match Group comes after a joint investigation by the triple j Hack program and Four Corners last year, which revealed Tinder’s failings in responding to survivors of sexual assault and enabling sexual predators to thrive on its app.

Tinder has announced it will immediately refer reports of assault to law enforcement in Australia. This is in direct result of our joint @triplejHack @4corners investigation which revealed the dating app’s failures to respond to reports of assault.https://t.co/xrLRbHsWbg

— Avani Dias (@AvaniDias) April 26, 2021

The investigation found that Tinder’s design allowed offenders to use the “unmatch” function to block their victims after a rape had occurred, which would delete any traces of their prior communication. It essentially helps sexual predators using the app to cover their tracks.

Detective Superintendent Stacey Maloney, from the NSW Police Force, told the ABC dating apps like Tinder should not withhold information from police when sexual violence has occurred.

“If they hold information that is suggestive an offence has been committed, they have a responsibility in my view to pass that on,” she said.

Detective Superintendent Maloney said the possibility of dating apps using artificial intelligence to monitor its users for “red flags” could be helpful.

“It’s looking at what type of behaviour those users would exhibit and if we can, pick up on that throughout the course of them being on those apps,” she said.

“In the event something does occur, it’s in existence.”

Since the investigation by triple J Hack and Four Corners last year, Match Group and other dating app companies like Bumble have announced a host of other changes designed to improve the safety of its users.

If you or someone you know is in need of help due to sexual assault or family and domestic violence contact 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 

In an emergency call 000.

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Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, the family said the excessive force used on the 16 year old boy was unnecessary and that it was hard to describe the “anger” and “frustration” they felt as a family.

The footage of the arrest shows a police officer kicking the boy’s feet out from underneath him and slamming him to the ground, face first.

“The use of excessive force used upon him is unnecessary and irresponsible on the officer’s behalf,” the boy’s sister said at the press conference. “Especially the need to leg sweep somebody who was not a threat.”

“No child should ever have to feel targeted and unsafe about the people employed in the community, who are supposed to be the ones to protect and create a safer environment for all.

“Children hanging out in their local parks are entitled to have a childhood and they should not be treated like criminals.”

The boy’s mother said: “I don’t think he should be made to feel like he’s in a prison that’s made up of the whole world.”

“Because we’re Aboriginal we see a lot of this all the time. We experience extra obligations to answer to people: who we are, where we’re going, what we’re doing, when we’re just walking along.”

The reason the boy was initially stopped by police remains unclear. He was taken to hospital by ambulance to receive x-rays after the arrest.

The family’s lawyer George Newhouse of the National Justice Project said if the police officer was not charged quickly, the family would pursue a private prosecution.

The press conference came after NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller told 2GB radio that the officer involved was having a “bad day”. Newhouse said the comments from Fuller were “wrong”.

“This isn’t an incident that was caused by an officer having a bad day, it’s systemic,” he said.

The boy’s father expressed solidarity with the family of George Floyd in the U.S, taking a knee in his honour.

“We are in solidarity with you and what’s happening in America and I also want to say I invite the team to come forward now and we’ll bow the knee.”

On Thursday morning the boy’s mother spoke to Fran Kelly on ABC’s RN Breakfast. She said that if the incident hadn’t been filmed, or had happened in almost any other week, chances are it would not have raised a ripple.

She explained she’d brought her children up to know, what she’d been taught as a child, and that is the only answer to a police officer is ‘Yes, Sir. No, Sir. Three bags full, Sir.’

Her son rebelled – I’m not sure if other parents experience that with their children – she asked. Her son was mouthy and she said she’d never encourage any Aboriginal to speak to a police officer like her son had.

But a 16 year old child being mouthy does not correspond with the violence he encountered in response from an adult police officer. It doesn’t and if the boy wasn’t Indigenous it likely wouldn’t have. That is what needs to change, the boy’s mother told Kelly. There cannot be two sets of rules.

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Public strip searches are similar to what happens in prison, but without walls, doors or convictions. And in New South Wales our police seem to be addicted to the practice.

I was strip searched endlessly in prison. The most traumatic was one where I thought a door might open. Now I don’t go anywhere there’s a chance I might meet cops and end up searched in public.

Right now in NSW, strip searches are happening on the side of busy roads, on concourses at busy train stations, to underage kids at underage events with improper supervision, to women pushed up against the windows of cafes on a busy shopping strip.

I don’t get out much and never take public transport.

One outing I do commit to though is a regular drive from Wollongong to St Leonards for therapy. This was where I saw the first public strip search in mid-2019. The panic it set off erased most of that day’s session.

Two cops had a man out of his car on a busy corner in a school zone right at afternoon pick up time. Traffic was slow. I watched till they got down to his underwear before the lights let me through.

While I watched the search, I also watched other people watching. People moved past or waited at the lights, all watching. They didn’t seem surprised. School boys in ties looked and laughed but didn’t seem shocked.

The man taking his clothes off didn’t stand out, looked just like the people watching. He wasn’t resisting. Looked confused but also not shocked.

Everyone there accepted this search.

I wanted to scream out my window, challenge the cops, film them. But I was driving. And I don’t do anything when I’m driving that might attract police attention. So I sat silent, also accepted it.

Not many options, really.

New South Wales has a problem with strip searches, one that those in power don’t want us to look too closely at.

In November 2019, NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller sent a video to his force, seemingly encouraging them to ignore public sentiments on the issue of strip searches.

“They need to have respect and a little bit of fear for law enforcement,” Fuller said, assuring police that he ‘fully supported’ their use of strip searches.

Looking at the upward annual slope of the strip search trend in NSW, one can hardly be blamed for wondering if the NSW Police Force really need any more encouragement right now.

In 2014-15, police in NSW conducted 3,735 strip searches, by 2017-18 that number had grown to 5,483 and again to 5,695 by 1 Jan 2019.

In 2009 if a drug dog sat down next to you (‘indicated you’), there was a 3% chance you would be strip searched, by 2017 it was 11%. We’ve strip searched 340 boys in the last three years, 122 girls. Our police refuse to cooperate with investigators and don’t think volunteers supervising children being searched need to have a working with children check.

With the police so eagerly embracing public strip searches, surely we must be seeing a pay off in the courts?

Not from what I saw in the courtroom of Magistrate Clisdell at Wollongong Local Court in November last year.

I was stuck in the court for the day and watched this hearing to pass time.

To summarise, police filed counterfeit money charges against a known offender after finding evidence near his house. These charges were thrown out because the Court determined that the whole matter started with an illegal public strip search.

This poor bloke hadn’t been out of prison for long and was sitting on the side of a six lane road in Port Kembla waiting for a friend to pick him up. Cops went past on the other side and because one of them ‘knew him’, decided to conduct a search.

They U-turned, pulled up near him and strip searched him on the side of the road. Didn’t find anything. So they called in the dog squad. Cops and dogs searched the hill and paddock near the guy’s house, still didn’t find anything.

Later that afternoon the cops dropped around to his house, just to ‘say hello’. Found drugs and counterfeit money in the yard next door and decided they’d made their case. Investigation into the matter, as the cops told the Court, involved waving the bag of money and drugs towards the poor bloke’s house and yelling ‘we’ve got you now, paperwork’s in the mail.’

In his judgement, Magistrate Clisdell mused that if fake money charge didn’t come with a 10 year sentence, he might not have looked closer at the evidence. The strip search, he posited, commenced the matter and so it’s illegality was relevant to the matter.

He dismissed the charges.

This was the first time this man had ever pled ‘not guilty’.

There were people driving past that search, just like I drove past the one in St Leonards. They accepted this, like I did.

It’s time we stop expecting this, time we get outraged.

Angela Williams is a former prisoner and drug addict turned university lecturer, who dissects the Australian prison system from the inside out in her new memoir, Snakes and Ladders (Affirm Press). 

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The Redfern Legal Centre applied for data under freedom of information laws following a controversial and potentially illegal strip search that was performed on a 16 year old girl at the Splendour in the Grass festival in Byron Bay last year.

That was the subject of a four-day inquiry by the NSW Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC).

She was one of seven children strip-searched at that event without a parent or guardian present which breaches police search powers.

“At that point I realised I was going to have to get naked in front of this police officer,” the girl said in a statement read out by counsel. I could not believe this was happening to me; I could not stop crying; I was completely humiliated. A strip-search is by necessity a grave intrusion of a citizen’s privacy and dignity.”

During that inquiry, a senior constable made the shocking admission that “all 19 strip searches he performed at the festival may have been illegal“.

“Girls as young as 12 and 13, some just finishing primary school, are being taken by police to a strange place and ordered by someone with a huge amount of power to take off their clothes."
Important story by @mmcgowan on NSW police stripsearching kids https://t.co/Z3Ccw2RwUm

— heldavidson (@heldavidson) November 5, 2019

Since 2016, 3,919 women have been strip-searched by police in NSW. Almost half of these were performed on women under 25.

Shockingly two 12-year-olds and eight 13-year-olds were strip searched in that time.

Last week LECC, which functions as the police watchdog, confirmed it had investigated six separate allegations of misuse of strip-search powers by police in 2018.

Samantha Lee, the head of police accountability at the Redfern Legal Centre, told The Guardian, young children being subject to this needs to be addressed urgently.

“Young children are particularly vulnerable and at risk of harm from being strip-searched,” she said. “Girls as young as 12 and 13, some just finishing primary school, are being taken by police to a strange place and ordered by someone with a huge amount of power to take off their clothes. There is no doubt these young women would have been scared, some terrified and most having no idea of their legal rights.”

NB: there's no clear definition of strip search in state laws, so police are left to interpret. One way it's been interpreted is to require people to squat during searches- to inspect their genitals. This isn't in the police force handbook, may be unlawful. Another way is below. https://t.co/QEplrbiKwM

— Julia Baird (@bairdjulia) November 5, 2019

Whether police can force people to squat during a strip-search, something that is reportedly a common practice, is currently being reviewed.

A police manual recently published allows police officers to instruct people to squat, lift their testicles or breasts, or part their buttock cheeks.

That this has – or is – potentially happening to girls under the age of 18 without a parent or guardian present is truly shocking.

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