Safety planning, Protection Orders, Police Safety Orders
Safety Planning
It is a good idea to set up some safety plans for you and your children. It is important that you don’t let your partner see the plan, and it is a good idea to talk about it with someone you trust or a family violence specialist.
This safety plan has three parts:
1. Avoid serious injury and escape violence
2. Prepare for separation
3. Long-term safety after separation
1. Avoid serious injury and escape violence
During an incident of violence at home you will want to do everything you can to avoid serious injury. Think ahead and plan.
Leave if you can. Know the easiest escape routes – doors, windows etc. What’s in the way? Are there obstacles to a speedy exit?
Know where you’re running to. Have a safe place arranged. You may want to organise this with a neighbour in advance. You may want to leave a spare set of clothes for you and your children with a neighbour.
Keep your essentials together. Keep your purse, cash, cards, keys, medications and important papers together in a place where you can get them quickly or ask someone else to fetch them.
Try to move to a place of low risk. Try to keep out of the bathroom, kitchen, garage, away from weapons, stairs or rooms without access to outside.
Think of a code word you could say to your children so they can call for help.
Depending on age and ability they could:
- run to a neighbour and ask them to call the Police
- call 111. Teach them the words to use to get help. (“This is Sarah, 99 East Street. Mum’s getting hurt. She needs help now.”)
- run to a safe place outside the house to hide. Arrange this in advance. You may also set up similar code words or actions with friends, family or neighbours.
Use judgement and intuition – when the situation is very serious you may have to do what the attacker wants until things calm down. Then be on the alert for your chance to escape and get help.
Try to leave quietly. Don’t give your attacker clues about the direction you’re taking or where you’re going.
Lock doors behind you if you can – it will slow down any attempt to follow you.
Have refuge or safe house numbers memorised or easy to find. If you have to leave to save your life - leave fast. Take nothing and go to the nearest safe place and call for help.
2. Preparation for separation
Advance arrangements and escape plans
Arrange transport in advance. Know where you’ll go. Advise the Shine Safe House or refuge. Tell a Shine Advocate, some trusted friends or a refuge worker about your plans. Go through the details together.
Gather documents. Start collecting the papers and information you need. Make your own list: Birth certificates, marriage certificate, copies of Protection Orders, custody papers, passports, any identification papers, driver’s licence, insurance policies, Work and Income documents, IRD number, bank account details and statements, cheque book, cash cards, immigration documentation, adoption papers, medical and legal records, etc.
Ask your family doctor to carefully note any evidence of injuries on your patient records.
What to take
- documents for yourself and children
- keys to house, garage, car, office
- clothing and other personal needs
- cell phone, phone card and list of important addresses and phone numbers
- for children, take essential school needs, favourite toy or comforter
- photograph of your partner so that people protecting you know what he looks like.
Playing it safe
Leave copies of documents, spare clothing and toiletries for yourself and children, some cash, spare keys, medication and other essential items with a trusted friend in case you need to leave in a hurry.
Try not to react to your partner in a way that might make him suspicious about your plans.
Always be aware of your need for safety.
Tell children only what they need to know, when they need to know it. Wait until plans are well advanced before talking to them. They don’t need the stress of keeping a difficult secret.
3. Long term safety after separation
Apply for a Protection Order – the section on Protection Orders below provides more information.
Teach your children what to do if your ex-partner makes contact with them unexpectedly, breaching access arrangements, i.e. rules about checking first before opening the door, coming inside or going to neighbours if he comes to the house, telling a teacher if they are approached at school.
Teach your children what to do if your ex-partner takes them, e.g. call the Police on 111.
Tell other adults who take care of your children (e.g. school teacher, day-care staff , baby sitter) which people have permission to pick them up and who is not permitted to do so.
If possible, use different shops and banks to those you used when you lived with your ex-partner.
Consider installing an outside lighting system that lights up when a person comes near your house
at night.
Change locks and ensure window security if the off ender has ever had access to your home or to your keys. A security chain could be fitted to all entry doors and used at all times when the door is answered by you or your children.
Plan for extra safety between leaving your car and entering your home, e.g. an automatic garage door opener, safety lighting, or removal of shrubs or trees in the area.
Vary your travel routes to and from work. Keep a map handy and pre-plan routes in unknown areas to prevent you from having to leave your vehicle.
Tell neighbours that your partner does not live with you and ask them to call the Police if he is seen near your house, or if they hear an assault occurring.
Tell your employer that you have a Protection Order, or that you are afraid of your ex-partner, and ask for your telephone calls at work to be screened.
If your ex-partner breaches the Protection Order, telephone the Police and report it, contact your
lawyer and your Shine Advocate. If the Police do not help, contact your Shine Advocate or lawyer for assistance to make a complaint.
Ask your telephone company to install ‘Caller ID’ on your telephone and ask for an unlisted number.
Warning: make sure that emergency services have access to your phone number.
Contact Elections NZ on 0800 367 656 or go to www.elections.org.nz and ask for your name and address to be excluded from the published electoral roll.
Attend a women’s education programme to help you grow strong and understand what has happened to you.
Applying for a Protection Order
What is a Protection Order? A Protection Order is an arrangement put in place by a Judge of the Court to protect you, the applicant, your children, and anyone else named on it.
The abusive person named on it, or respondent, must not go to your house, neighbourhood or work place and must not follow you or contact you in any way, unless specific arrangements have been made.
A Protection Order can include an Occupation/Tenancy Order so that the applicant can occupy the family home and the respondent has to move out immediately.
How do I get a Protection Order? It is recommended to have a lawyer prepare the application, or you can collect the forms from the Family Court. You are eligible for Legal Aid if you are on a benefit, have a low income, or no income. You may also be eligible for Legal Aid if you are living with someone who has a high income but you are applying for a Protection Order against that person. If you are eligible for legal aid the order will cost you nothing. Shine Advocates can recommend a lawyer to you. For information and advice call the free Shine Helpline 0508 744 633.
How long will it take?
A Protection Order can be granted within 24 hours if the situation is serious. Otherwise it can take a few more days.
What do I need to give the lawyer?
Try to take copies of the following things with you to speed up the process:
- marriage certificate
- birth certificates of you and your children
- passports
- reports or photographs from past abuse or visits to the doctor or hospital
- names and numbers of those who can back up your story, e.g. neighbour, relative, friend
- NZ citizenship or residency notice.
With the help of your lawyer, you will need to write down a history of the abuse you have experienced, including emotional, verbal or psychological abuse.
How will the Protection Order work?
If the Protection Order is breached or ignored, and the person named on it tries to contact you in any way – you must report it to the Police. The abuser is liable to be arrested, go to prison or pay a fine.
A Protection Order is also kept on the abuser’s Police file. It is important to make at least four copies of your order:
- One for your handbag
- One kept at home
- One at work
- One at your local Police station.
Remember: If you move house, give a copy of your Protection Order to the new local Police station.
Police Safety Orders
A Police Safety Order (PSO) is issued in circumstances where the Police have reasonable grounds to believe that family violence has or may occur. A PSO can last for up to five days, but is usually one or two days.
The purpose of the PSO is to protect people at risk from violence, harassment, or intimidation. The order stays in force until the expiry time/date listed on the order. The Police do not need the consent of the person at risk to issue the order.
When a PSO is made, the person bound by the order must leave the address while the PSO is in force, even if they own the property at that address and/or normally live there.
The bound person must not assault, threaten, intimidate or harass the protected person (the person at risk) or encourage anyone else to do the same. They must not follow, stop or contact in any way the person at risk in any place, either at home, at work, or anywhere else the person at risk visits often. The bound person must surrender all firearms and their firearms licence to the Police for the period of the PSO.
The PSO also protects any children living with the person at risk. Any conditions of parenting orders or agreements permitting access or care by the bound person are suspended.
The Police may detain the bound person for up to two hours to issue and serve the PSO. There is no right of appeal.
What happens if a PSO is breached? If the bound person does anything that is not permitted by the PSO, the Police can take the person in custody and put them before the Court. The Court may issue a warrant to arrest the bound person if it is required to bring them before the Court.
The Court may:
- release the bound person without any further order
- direct the Police to issue another PSO
- issue a Temporary Protection Order (if the person at risk does not object). The Court does not need an application from anyone to issue a Temporary Protection Order.
No criminal convictions result from the issue of a Police Safety Order.
> Read an update from Government on how Police Safety Order have been used in the first year.
> Go on to next section: Who can offer support and help, how friends and family can help