A pattern set to failure by Australian Broadcasting Corporation

When police fail to follow operating procedures, the consequences can be deadly.

The Review of New South Wales Police Force responses to domestic and family violence incidents, published in June 2023 by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC), analysed more than 100 cases where the NSW Police Force found officers had breached the force’s own protocols and failed to properly investigate family violence.

The review identified 171 breaches of the police force’s own domestic violence operating procedures. And these figures likely represent only a fraction of the true number of inadequate investigations, according to experts.

Domestic violence is a sensitive and heavy topic, and this story demonstrates the value of data humanism. It’s important to remind readers that behind each data point, in this case, are stories of people whose lives have been upended.

Each case of police failure is presented as a shard of glass – a visual metaphor for the dangerous nature of these scenarios and shattered lives. Each shard – and each failure – can inflict serious harm, even if it appears small or inconsequential in isolation. They are real shards of glass, from glassware we shattered with a hammer and safety gear, that we arranged, photographed and annotated to explain that each shard represents a specific instance of police failure, as documented in the LECC report.

Just as no two cases are the same, each shard is unique. This story pieces together a dangerous pattern of inadequacy in the NSW Police Force which is mirrored also in police forces around the country.