At least four domestic violence victims have had their addresses accidentally released by police to their offenders, 9News can reveal.
The Queensland victims, some of whom had been stalked and held hostage previously, are now living in fear.
Jane is one woman who has suffered that fate but she’s not the only one.
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Queensland Police said at least five other victims were in the same boat – four of them domestic violence sufferers.
But it could be many more, with Assistant Commissioner Mark Kelly admitting they “don’t really know” how widespread the issue is.
“We only know at this stage what’s being reported,” he told 9News.
“We’re keeping an open mind to that and certainly if anyone is concerned they can call their local police.”
The issue occurs when a victim is in hiding but being harassed and threatened by phone or email.
Police record the victim’s home address as the location the offence took place, with that address then recorded on court paperwork and passed on to the offender when they’re charged.
After 9News obtained leaked emails which exposed the issue last month, police say they are making changes to protect victims, including more officer training.
“People haven’t done this deliberately but we’ve got to make sure our system, the IT system, and training, and people, [that] there are prompts in the system to make sure it doesn’t happen,” Kelly said.
Jane is angry it took 9News to reveal the problem, after she emailed senior police and the police minister about what happened to her.
“We’re really sorry we didn’t pick this up, we are owning this now – we need to fix it and make sure this is fixed,” Kelly said.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).
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