51茶馆

September 18, 2021

Women’s police stations in Australia: would they work for ‘all’ women?

Policing studies conducted in Australia and the UK suggest simply increasing the number of female police officers will never be enough to improve discriminatory policing

Proposals to expand , to and to establish specialist women鈥檚 police stations have all occupied a prominent place in Australia鈥檚 recent debate about responses to violence against women.

The proposal to establish women鈥檚 police stations has received a strong platform in mainstream media and academic journals. It has also featured in debates on policy development, such as in the currently underway in Queensland.

In the local and global movement for Black and Indigenous lives where associated campaigns are asking the public to scrutinise police powers and to discuss defunding police, many Australian feminists have been advocating for punitive solutions to domestic violence.

But there is currently no credible evidence to support the implementation of women鈥檚 police stations, and the research underpinning the proposal in Australia is problematic in several ways.

What are women鈥檚 police stations?

Specialist women鈥檚 police stations are designed to respond specifically to violence against women. They have been a feature of policing in Argentina, Brazil and other Latin American countries since the late 1980s, as well as parts of Africa and Asia.

 

Some women鈥檚 police stations adopt a 鈥渕ultidisciplinary鈥� approach to policing domestic violence. They are staffed with teams of police who work alongside social workers, psychologists and lawyers. However, women鈥檚 police stations are still police stations.

They vary in appearance, with some colourfully designed with play rooms for children and welcome rooms that are decorated with .

Their mandate is to provide services for women. It鈥檚 unclear whether the stations provide support for people who identify as women outside of the cis-gender binary.

What does the research say?

To date, Australian news reporting on women鈥檚 police stations has relied almost exclusively on research led by Australian criminologist Kerry Carrington.

Journalists and commentators have frequently used this research to report on and advocate for the establishment of women鈥檚 police stations in Australia. Investigative journalist Jess Hill :

We don鈥檛 get cops to fight fires or drive ambulances, because that鈥檚 considered specialist work. So why don鈥檛 we just take the police who love responding to family violence [鈥�] and create a parallel force? [鈥�] It鈥檚 a proven model that鈥檚 existed across Latin America (and various other countries) for 35 years.

The evidence presented in favour of women鈥檚 police stations is largely drawn from two original studies. Both studies were led by Professor Carrington at the Queensland University of Technology.

The first was a study undertaken over a three-month period.

This research included interviews with 100 employees from ten women鈥檚 police stations in the Buenos Aires province of Argentina. The research participants represented were selected by the province鈥檚 - who the police station reports to.

The second study drew on the findings of 2 surveys conducted on attitudes towards the proposal of women鈥檚 police stations.

These two surveys were: one 鈥渨orkforce鈥� survey, which was distributed to Australian police officers, non-governmental organisations and case workers; the second 鈥渃ommunity鈥� survey, with recruitment of Australian adults via Facebook advertising.

The second people thought women鈥檚 police stations could improve the policing of gender violence in Indigenous communities in Australia if staffed by appropriately trained teams working from both gender and culturally sensitive perspectives.

The authors of the study concluded:

adapted to an Australian context where Indigenous women are many times more likely to experience domestic family violence, these specialist police stations will need to be appropriately staffed by Indigenous and non-Indigenous officers trained to work from both gender and culturally sensitive perspectives.

Issues with the studies

There are several concerns with both studies.

In relation to the study in Argentina - all 100 of the participants were paid employees of the two police stations being researched. Police officers made up 79%, and 21% were employed by or otherwise engaged with the two police stations selected for the study.

The study doesn鈥檛 consider how the research participants鈥� statuses as employees of the police stations may have influenced their views.

A second concern is the study didn鈥檛 include interviews with survivors or their families or support networks. It also didn鈥檛 include interviews with the communities where the stations were located.

A third limitation (which the authors ), is the study does not examine whether these police stations reduced crime rates, statistics of domestic violence or apprehended violence orders.

In addition, no data is supplied about important factors to assess the claims of the benefit of women鈥檚 police stations in other matters related to domestic violence. Such as whether women鈥檚 police stations increase access to legal supports or whether they improve a person鈥檚 ability to report violence.

Finally, neither study examines whether there was a reduction in crime rates or statistics of domestic violence, femicide or apprehended violence orders.

It is difficult to assess the effectiveness of women鈥檚 police stations without this data.

Evidence to suggest women鈥檚 police stations don鈥檛 work

Evaluations of women鈥檚 police stations have had mixed results. For example, found 鈥渁ll-women police stations did not improve services for gender violence victims鈥�.

suggests no improvement in reporting or accountability with respect to women鈥檚 police stations in India.

And there is evidence to suggest women鈥檚 police stations are not free from discrimination and violence, such as .

This paper from Spanish journal Delito y Sociedad in 2016, reported female officers associated with La Plata women鈥檚 police station apprehended and publicly searched ten transgender women. The women said . They stated four of them were detained for no reason other than their visibility as trans women.

The event led to widespread condemnation of the La Plata women鈥檚 police station by transgender advocacy groups, particularly as station staff at that time included a trans woman.

There is also the death of that indicates these police stations aren鈥檛 always effective with protecting people who experience domestic violence.

Bahillo reported violence from her policeman boyfriend to a woman鈥檚 police station on at least . She died three days after reporting her case to a women鈥檚 police station in Buenos Aires province in February this year.

La Capital Bahillo鈥檚 family stated the women鈥檚 police station 鈥渄id nothing.鈥�

notes that:

脷rsula Bahillo鈥檚 case became notorious for the repeated times she asked for help, denounced her aggressor [to police] and was not listened to.

Policing studies conducted in and suggest simply increasing the number of female police officers will never be enough to improve discriminatory policing.

Despite female leadership in policing in Queensland, there have still been of sexism and racism among police, including police posting on social media that women lie about domestic violence.

What about Black and Indigenous women?

We found very little research on the experiences of Black and Indigenous women with women鈥檚 police stations, besides one , looking at Latin America, which observed:

Indigenous and Afro-descendent women have limited access [to women鈥檚 police stations] because few operators come from or understand those cultures and few speak their languages.

Indigenous advocates have repeatedly drawn attention to the police failure to protect .

An example of this involves the case of Tiffany Paterson, an Aboriginal woman from the Northern Territory who was violently assaulted after the failed to protect her. Tiffany, who survived the attack, later sued the Northern Territory Police on the grounds of negligence and settled on confidential terms.

It is broadly understood in Indigenous communities that police stations are not safe places for Indigenous people. They are also not safe for Indigenous people to for assistance, with domestic or .

Indigenous families and communities are often frontline responders to domestic violence. Indigenous women are more likely to report violence or seek support from staff within Indigenous organisations, not police nor non-Indigenous services.

We policing of domestic violence plays a significant role in the removal of Indigenous children from their families. The deep mistrust of police within Indigenous communities is acknowledged by .

Why women鈥檚 police stations are not the answer

produced with Indigenous communities by Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars in Australia points to for Indigenous women and families experiencing violence.

This includes and legal support services.

White feminists must listen to Indigenous peoples and organisations who are at the frontline delivering evidence-based and , as well as Indigenous researchers with lived experience.

All those who have previously supported women鈥檚 police stations should read this important work and reconsider their position. Now is a crucial time for these discussions, on the 30 year anniversary of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, and with Indigenous incarceration rates increasing and the preparation of a new ten year National Plan to address violence against women and children.

---

 

, Senior Fellow (Indigenous Programs), ; , Independent journalist, writer and researcher, ; , Indigenous Research Fellow, , and , Aboriginal Postdoctoral Research Fellow,

This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license.

---

 

UOW academics exercise academic freedom by providing expert commentary, opinion and analysis on a range of ongoing social issues and current affairs. This expert commentary reflects the views of those individual academics and does not necessarily reflect the views or policy positions of the 51茶馆.