A police officer can issue a police protection notice at the time the officer attends a domestic violence incident. This allows the police to serve the respondent at the time of the incident rather than the aggrieved waiting for the Court to hear an application for a Domestic Violence Order (Protection Order or DVO).

The breach of a police protection notice is an offence with a maximum penalty of 60 penalty units ($7,068) or two years imprisonment.

A number of safeguards are provided to ensure notices are used appropriately including:

• a supervising officer must approve the issuing of the notice;
• cross-notices cannot be issued against both parties to a domestic violence incident;
• a police officer must consider the accommodation needs of a respondent for a ‘cool-down condition’;
• a police officer must explain the notice to the respondent and the aggrieved person;
• the notice is taken to be an application for a Domestic Violence Order to ensure it is reviewed by the Court; and
• a court hearing an offence for the contravention of a notice must consider whether the notice was properly issued in the first instance.

Detention powers – where the person who is detained is heavily intoxicated

A person can be detained, for up to four hours, if a police officer reasonably suspects that there is a danger that the person will cause personal injury or property damage. During this time police can prepare an application for a Domestic Violence Order or obtain a termporary protection order from a magistrate. A person can also be held up to the four hour period if the police believ it is necessary to make arrangements for the safety of the aggrieved.

A person can be held for a total of 8 hours from when they are first taken into custody if a police officer reasonably believes the person is intoxicated to an extent that the person is incapable of understanding the nature and effect of a document that must be given to the person.

A police officer can take a person to a place for treatment at any time during the detention period. A person can be released from police custody at the treatment place if it is likely the treatment will take more than eight hours. This could occur in situations where the level of intoxication is such that there are concerns held about a person’s health. Police can also take a person to a place of safety to receive the care necessary to enable that person to recover safely from the effects of being intoxicated.

Power to direct a person to remain

Police are able to serve a respondent by telling them about the order, including the conditions of the order. Police who come across a respondent when conducting other duties, such as random breath testing, can also exercise this power to arrange for the respondent to be told about the existence of the order and of the conditions of the order. An order can be enforced against a respondent if a police officer has told the respondent about the order and the conditions of the order.

A police officer can require a respondent to remain in the company of a police officer while a police protection notice is being prepared and served.

The following safeguards are in place:

• A person can only be directed to remain at a place that is appropriate.
• A police officer must remain in the presence of the person while the person is required to remain.
• The time for which a person can be directed to remain at a place is limited to one hour or a longer period of time if this is reasonably necessary. A police officer acting under this provision must act without unreasonable delay.
• Where the police officer does not have a copy of a court order, a person can be told about the order and the conditions on the orderfor example by another police officer reading the conditions to the person over a radio or mobile phone.
• A person must be warned that it is an offence not to comply with the direction to remain.

The offence of failing to comply with the direction to remain carries a maximum penalty of 40 penalty units ($4,712.00).

A person does not commit an offence if they were not the person named as the respondent in the application or the order or if the warning was not given to them. A person who has a reasonable excuse for not complying with the direction may have a defence.