Some 90 per cent of those surveyed said they had witnessed police discrimination or bias, and 83 per cent said they had witnessed police misidentifying the victim-survivor as the perpetrator.

Researchers noted many professionals reported police “targeting and discriminating” against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, migrant communities, LGBTIQ+ people, people living with disability and other groups.

Aboriginal and migrant women ‘overwhelmingly’ being misidentified as perpetrators

“What this research really strongly tells us, in terms of who is being misidentified, is that this incorrect identification is overwhelmingly happening to Aboriginal women, it’s happening to migrant women and refugee women,” Caulfield said.

Caulfield said more than 50 per cent of respondents reported that they had encountered a situation in which the person perpetrating the family violence was themselves a police officer, and many of them had encountered that on more than one occasion.

Report authors call for move away from police in family violence responses

The authors called for a move away from policing and towards investment in community-led family violence responses.