Hundreds of allegedly dangerous domestic and family violence offenders have been arrested in a wide-scale blitz across New South Wales.
Police charged more than 550 people during a four-day operation targeting allegedly violent offenders over four days last week.
NSW Police said in a statement on Monday morning that Operation Amarok VI took place in every police area command and district across the state from Wednesday to Saturday.
A total of 554 people were arrested, and 1070 charges laid.
Almost half of those arrested – 226 – were wanted by police for serious domestic violence offences.
“These results show how seriously the NSW Police Force take domestic and family violence – this abhorrent behaviour is not tolerated,” Minister for Police and Counter-terrorism Yasmin Catley said.
“Anyone who commits this heinous crime can expect a knock at their door.
“Operation Amarok is just one part of the police response. Last year, almost 150,000 calls for assistance were made to the NSWPF for domestic violence-related matters. This shows the severity of the situation, the huge amount of police time and resources that go into addressing this epidemic and how important it is for prevention, early intervention and crisis support services to work together.”
NSW Police Executive Sponsor for Domestic and Family Violence, Deputy Commissioner Peter Thurtell, said the results of Operation Amarok VI demonstrate the Force’s commitment to tackling domestic violence and arresting offenders.
“NSW Police officers respond to incidents of domestic and family violence every single day, and Operation Amarok enables police statewide to conduct a targeted blitz of those who have been flagged as the worst domestic violence offenders.
“These offenders pose a significant threat to their victims, as well as family members and the wider community.
“We demonstrated last week that we will target and arrest the offenders no matter where they are located. We saw significant arrest numbers in our regional communities, and we also saw arrests for offences that occurred allegedly while the offender was in jail.
“These Amarok VI results send a powerful message to offenders, and the community at large, that we do not tolerate domestic and family violence in any form, and our efforts will continue.”
In addition to the arrests, police carried out more than 1000 bail compliance checks, with 144 alleged breaches detected.
More than 420 Apprehended Domestic Violence Orders (ADVOs) were also served over the four days.
