There are almost 5000 proceedings every year against offenders for breach of protection order offences. Photo / Getty
A Northland woman and her children were left feeling vulnerable and let down after her ex-husband breached a protection order and police allegedly took months to take any action.
"It was hideous, it was intrusive and I didn't feel safe," she told the Herald.
The woman, who is not being named to protect her identity, resorted to installing CCTV cameras to feel better protected, despite having gone through the "traumatising" experience of obtaining a final protection order against her former partner.
Sadly, she is not an isolated case. A growing number of women say they feel the system isn't working well enough to protect them from violent partners.
A second woman told the Herald her ex-partner would wear her down by "constant contact", despite there being an order in place.
"When you're dealing with someone with an extensive criminal history, they don't respect the law and they can continue to retraumatise you ... coming over and knocking on the door, saying 'if you don't f***ing let me in I'm gonna boot the door down'.
"A protection order does not protect me at all. It does not protect me from the person who has physically abused me in the past, beating my door down."
These women are among thousands of people who experience protection order breaches every year.
Nearly 5000 protection order offences come before the courts each year in New Zealand, according to police figures obtained under the Official Information Act.
In addition to that the number of police safety orders - which are issued by officers and requires a violent person to leave the home immediately during a family harm callout - have skyrocketed.
They have gone from 461 to almost 2000 a year in a decade and reported breaches jumped by more than 400 between 2018 and 2019 alone.
There is no sign of the issue slowing down.
In the first half of this year 2400 proceedings for protection order breaches have already taken place, and more than 1000 police safety orders have been breached.
Auckland barrister Sheila McCabe said she's "gobsmacked" by the number.
"Breaches are not unheard of but I was surprised to see there were that many."
Although she's shocked at the figures, McCabe believes it shows the system is working.
"The fact that people are being charged with breaches shows that system is working. The court order is only as good as the buy-in from the person who the court order is against, to stick by it.
"In my experience, if there are serious breaches, police deal with it and so they should because breaches need to not be tolerated," she said.
Police say the high level of PSO breaches is a result of more are being issued.
"We've had a whole lot more family harm reporting over the years. Police have done a lot of work to try and improve the way we investigate and solve family harm episodes," said family harm manager Seema Kotecha.
A long-standing Family Court lawyer and domestic abuse charity Shine believe breaches that make it to court are only the tip of the iceberg.
"When you see those 5000 proceedings, I bet there are 15,000 reports, 20,00, 25,000 easy," said retired Family Court lawyer Gareth Bodle.
Breaches are complex and increasingly involve online communication through social media, he said.
"A lot of this stuff is now coming on Facebook, Instagram and it's frightening. You know, [they might say] 'I'm coming around'. That's enough to terrify a woman. The kids will be on edge, she will be on edge."
Bodle believes protection order and PSO legislation has been "remarkably resilient" and isn't necessarily due for a review, but police need more support from other agencies to promptly follow up with victims.
"As a lawyer it is so frustrating when you say to your client, 'You've got the [protection] order, call the cops'. An hour later, you get a text back saying 'The cops won't listen to me, can't talk to me, gotta go in tomorrow'.
"We only have so many cops on the street, only so many cars available, so if someone makes a call, unless it's urgent ... it just takes ages."
One woman said her ex-husband was given a verbal warning by an officer over the phone - due to Covid-19 restrictions - after he breached conditions of the protection order, but it took months for this to happen. It also wasn't his first breach.
"It shouldn't take things to happen a few times. There has got to be back up right there and then and consequences for his actions."
Another woman said she called police after her ex-partner showed up at her house, but it took them months to find him.
"He was out there for months on end while I was in fear, looking over my shoulder 24/7."
The maximum penalty for breaching a condition of a protection order (except the requirement to attend a non-violence programme) is three years' imprisonment.
If the respondent fails to attend a non-violence programme as required, the maximum penalty is six months in prison or a $5000 fine.
But a first protection order breach is commonly dealt with by a warning from police, Bodle said.
One woman wants to see jail time.
"People who abuse women do not respect the law, let alone what's written on a piece of paper," she said.
"I think once there's one breach they should be put in jail for that because that's the law that they've broken, and they're putting other lives at jeopardy and re-traumatising them.
"They should be high priority, these people."
Another woman said she would feel better supported if courts enforced the orders they make.
She said her ex-husband failed to attend a non-violence programme ordered by the court as part a protection order against him, even after 18 months.
"I'm still having to write affidavits to justify why he needs to do it, which makes no sense.
"I've already ascertained there's a risk of violence ... so why am I still the one having to justify why he should be doing the non-violence programme?"
Shine spokeswoman Holly Carrington said the police response is only one piece of the puzzle.
"Even if police are doing everything they can and if breaches get to the court, there's no convictions happening. Things are getting tossed out of court, we're still going to end up with a system that's broken.
"The biggest problem is around enforcement rather than the actual legislation.
"I don't think the finger should be pointed at police, it should be the whole system."
Victims need to be educated about protection orders and what a breach actually looks like, Carrington said.
One woman told the Herald she did not know what a protection order was the first time she applied for one, but she was advised to get one.
"There was one time I rung the police, they didn't get there in time and I had taken off, but they didn't follow up and they didn't follow up to see how I was."
On another occasion, she said she was "beaten up quite badly" - to the point one eye was bruised shut - and the offender had taken her daughter.
"All they did was go and get my baby and arrest him and he got community service for it.
"One side of my face was pretty beaten and that's all they did, was give him community service."
She told the Herald protection orders are fit for purpose if they are used and explained properly.
That's what police are trying to do.
In some areas police are serving protection orders on behalf of the court to provide some education to all parties involved, said Kotecha.
They are also training officers through a programme called 'Eyes Wide Open' to have a more holistic approach to family harm callouts.
"It's horrific for people, honestly ... police can't do this alone. This is everybody's business including community NGOs , agencies, and if we all work together we can actually provide some better safety for people."
Kotecha said it's important to remember there are a "whole number" of protection orders and PSOs that have been highly effective.
McCabe also said in "many cases" protection orders do work.
"You've got some people who don't respect court orders, but eventually they will get locked up."
• Women's Refuge: Free national crisis line operates 24/7 - 0800 REFUGE or 0800 733 843
• Shine, free national helpline 9am- 11pm every day - 0508 744 633
• It's Not Ok: Information line 0800 456 450 www.areyouok.org.nz
• Shakti: Providing specialist cultural services for African, Asian and Middle Eastern women and their children. Crisis line 24/7 0800 742 584
• Ministry of Justice: www.justice.govt.nz/family-justice/domestic-violence
• National Network of Stopping Violence: www.nnsvs.org.nz
• White Ribbon: Aiming to eliminate men's violence towards women www.whiteribbon.org.nz
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