More than 700 people, including 15 Canberra men, have been arrested in the first major cross-border police crackdown on domestic and family violence.
The coordinated police initiative between ACT Policing and the New South Wales Police Force has been described as an intelligence-led effort focused on high-risk individuals, particularly those trying to evade justice by crossing state and territory lines.
The NSW Police Force ran its 14th Operation Amarok from August 14 to 16, while ACT Policing established a concurrent operation, Operation Shepherd, which ran from August 12 to 16.
In the ACT, Operation Shepherd led to the arrest of 15 men while a further five individuals received summons to appear before the ACT Magistrates Court for family violence-related offences and order breaches.
ACT Policing's Detective Superintendent Kylie Lawson said the close sharing of intelligence between the two agencies allowed police to locate and arrest three men living in Canberra who were wanted by NSW Police, while another man was arrested in NSW and extradited to the capital.
She said ACT Policing had begun updating an offender's vehicle registration details to reflect family violence related information as an additional measure to ensure compliance with court orders.
"We can see that they have conditions not to contact their victim, and ensure that there is no one else in the vehicle who is not supposed to be there," Detective Superintendent Lawson said.
Notable incidents during the ACT operation included the arrest of a 51-year-old man in Kenny who was served with a family violence order.
During his arrest, police seized two firearms, ammunition, a significant amount of cannabis, cannabis plants, and drug paraphernalia.
In a separate arrest, another Canberra man was arrested and charged with multiple offences after allegedly assaulting his partner over several years.
Meanwhile, the scale of the corresponding operation in NSW over three days led to 1589 charges laid against 732 people.
Officers conducted more than 12,000 domestic violence order compliance checks, identifying more than 500 breaches. Furthermore, NSW authorities executed 93 prohibition order searches, seizing 118 firearms and 16 other weapons.
Superintendent Danielle Emerton said the NSW Police Force received a domestic violence-related call every three minutes.
"Domestic family violence occurs behind closed doors and it's not something that people regularly talk about. So I think that it is bigger than what we know ...," Superintendent Danielle Emerton from the NSW Police Force said.
She said NSW and ACT police, along with Australian Federal Police, were pooling their intelligence and resources to track down wanted individuals.
"We will find you, there is no escaping. If you're a DV offender, then look out. We're working together," Superintendent Emerton said.
The success of Operation Shepherd and Amarok will be reviewed, and ACT Policing indicated it will look to partner with NSW Police for similar operations in the future.
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