Safety Orders

The Herald reports:

Police will be able to issue safety orders from tomorrow that remove an aggressor from a premises, separating victims of domestic violence from their abuser for five days.

The orders can be made when police do not have enough evidence to make an immediate arrest and allow time for intervention by social agencies. They are part of a number of measures being introduced tomorrow to help victims of crime, including more financial help for families of murder victims and a national phoneline to handle phone requests from police for Victim Support help.

“Often police attend a job and although we suspect an offence may have been committed, or we believe one may well be committed, we are unable to charge a person and take them into custody,” said Inspector Brigitte Nimmo, acting National Family Violence Co-ordinator.

The orders would allow at-risk people some “breathing room” and time to meet police and other agencies.

Ms Nimmo said that in some situations they could save a person’s life. “It certainly plugs what has been a frustrating gap for police providing an effective way of intervening in a situation to protect families from violence.”

Our current laws and framework are ineffective.  The number of people who die at the hands of their partners is disgraceful. There is only so much the state can do to reduce this, but I think the new safety orders will be a much needed tool.

As with all tools, there is the potential for abuse, but the limited time period they can stay in force for, mitigates that.