A lack of communication between police officers and an overreliance on a computer database system meant opportunities to arrest Greg Anderson in the months before he killed his 11-year-old son Luke Batty may have been missed, Melbourne coroner's court has heard.
Giving evidence at the inquest into Luke's death, Kate Anderson, a senior constable at Hastings police station, said officers spent a lot of time and effort trying to locate and arrest Anderson, who was facing 11 criminal charges, seven related to family violence.
But the inquest heard there was often a lag of several days between an arrest warrant being issued and it being put into a police computer database to alert officers from other areas.
It meant that when an officer from Chelsea police station spoke to Greg Anderson about an assault in January, they found no existing warrants out for his arrest and did not apprehend him.
When Luke Batty was beaten and stabbed to death by Greg Anderson barely two weeks later at a cricket oval in Tyabb, Victoria, there were four warrants out for his arrest, the inquest heard, and he had two intervention orders out against him.
Rachel Doyle, senior counsel assisting Luke's mother, Rosie Batty, asked constable Anderson why police relied so heavily on the database for information when an email sent by a colleague contained more useful intelligence.
Doyle told the inquest that the email, sent to all officers at the station last year, said Greg Anderson could often be found at Luke's football matches; that he frequented a particular Hare Krishna temple; that there was an address in St Kilda where he might have been living; and contained the name and phone number of his solicitor.
It also said Batty would appreciate an attempt to locate Greg Anderson given he had recently assaulted her.
"Did anyone think about liaising with his lawyer to arrange a peaceful execution of the warrant," Doyle asked.
Kate Anderson replied; "I'm not aware of that happening."
Doyle said the information in the email contained valuable information police could have acted on.
"It's pretty simple – ring up the lawyer, it does present as an option doesn't it," Doyle asked.
"The police database is a tool. But an intelligence approach is probably a lot more useful when someone is not living at one place, is transient, living out of car and shown a propensity to not follow the rules.
"This sort of information is the better information, isn't it."
She asked Kate Anderson if she had ever driven to one of Luke's sporting matches to see if she could find and arrest Greg Anderson there.
"I recall doing it once, or a couple of times, but I can't remember what dates," Kate Anderson said.
The inquest also heard police were called to the Batty's home in May last year because Greg Anderson was outside the house threatening them and holding a large vase.
Despite Kate Anderson filing a police report which said Batty was fearful of her safety and which indicated Greg Anderson may be a future threat, those details were not entered into the computer database, the inquest heard.
Kate Anderson said she was not responsible for inputting that information and data entry was handled by someone else. Hundreds of reports were entered into the system each week, she said, and it was unknown for how long the original hard copies were kept for.
The inquest continues.
