The 111 Files: What you can do to stop violence

Inspector Bruce Horne

Rotorua police attend an average of seven to eight family violence incidents a day, over 50 a week, sometimes much more.

Family violence is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, social problem facing our community.

Ask any police officer in Rotorua and they will tell you it's true. They will also tell you that our biggest opportunity to reduce crime across the board would be to reduce family violence.

That's because the dysfunction created by family violence is the underlying cause of a high proportion of crime.

Michael Kaufman, one of the co-founders of the White Ribbon campaign, put it this way: "If it were between countries, we'd call it a war. If it were a disease, we'd call it an epidemic. If it were an oil spill, we'd call it a disaster. But it is happening to women, and it's happening every day."

If you do the research, you will find that an effective White Ribbon campaign is one of the best tools available for reducing family violence.

Why? Because of the power of a conversation. It is now the custom in more than 70 countries to run an annual White Ribbon awareness campaign for 16 days, beginning on White Ribbon Day (November 25).

However in Rotorua, police and partner agencies have decided to do something different, something bigger.

Instead of 16 days of action, White Ribbon Day 2014 will be used to launch 16 months of action.

Our goal over the next year is to mobilise our whole community to take a stand against family violence by starting a community-wide conversation.

There are lots of things you can do to help.

Here are a few easy ones to start. Firstly, take the White Ribbon Pledge, a simple promise to "never commit, condone or remain silent about violence towards women".

You can do this online at http://whiteribbon.org.nz/act/the-pledge/.

The second thing you can do is commit to wearing a white ribbon, as a visible sign of your commitment to making a difference.

The third thing you can do is convince your workmates, neighbours, friends and family to take the White Ribbon Pledge too. Imagine if every time you went to the supermarket, or strolled through the centre of town, every second person you saw was wearing a white ribbon.

Think about the power of that message. Think about the message of support that would send to victims of family violence.

Another option is to join deputy mayor Dave Donaldson and a bunch of others on the White Ribbon Bike Ride on Saturday. It will be a leisurely 4km bicycle ride around the Rotorua city centre, starting at the Village Green at 10am.

You can find more information about this and the Celebrate Whanau Day on the Bay of Plenty Police Facebook site, or email me at Bruce.horne@police.govt.nz. See you there.