NT Police say their failure to respond to a welfare check before a woman was allegedly killed by her partner will be part of a coronial investigation. They say the huge number of domestic violence reports are overwhelming the force and preventing swift action. Meanwhile, frontline organisations say change is urgent to keep women safe.
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00:00This was a woman's home, but it became a crime scene. A 43 year old found dead, her 57 year old former partner charged with her alleged murder.
00:14Police today confirming earlier media reports that a call for help was made 9 hours before she was found dead.
00:22Unfortunately in this circumstance other jobs were taken as a higher priority and that will certainly form part of the criminal incest.
00:32The force defending its failure to respond to welfare concerns raised by government, social and family welfare department, Territory Families.
00:41We as an organisation receive between 60 and 100 calls for domestic violence incidents in a 24 hour period on average every day of the week.
00:50The fact that police didn't respond to this welfare check will be the subject of a coronial investigation,
00:57but one frontline service has sounded the alarm that when these urgent alerts are raised, in some instances response times are up to 48 hours.
01:07I want to say that I was really surprised it took so long for police to react, but unfortunately that is the reality on how long it takes for welfare checks to be checked up on.
01:17While workers at the DV frontline acknowledge the intense demand on police services and others, they say change is urgent.
01:25I'd love to see the professional judgement of for example the NGOs that are working in the sector, but also Territory Families and anyone else for that matter,
01:33that knows that there is concerns for it to have a lot more weight and for it to be acted on accordingly.
01:39Whatever it takes to prevent another fatal tragedy.