I live in a block of units, and two of my neighbours are arguing. I heard today from a female neighbour that the male next door to her verbally abused her. She now occassionally fears leaving her home when this male person is outside. I asked her if she has told the police, and was surprised to hear that they will not do anything about it. Verbal abuse is a form of violence and should not be condoned.

The issue with going in to hard to begin with that although verbal violence can be terrifying and seriously threatening there isn't much they can do. Worst case senario on verbal violence is them being taken away for a time....but they'll be back, and angry. Domestic violence is horrific and a massive challenge for everyone to deal with.

I lived in a rough neighbourhood where there was a guy that beat his missus. One night the 'rough neighbours down the road' went round and kicked his head in when he was beating his missus. Very effective.

Cops used to do these things.
The thing was, most of the deaths of police were at domestic disputes.
I think this eventually in some way had an effect.
Another reason is governments that dont fully support police.
Always they want cost cutting and this pressurised cop administration to cut corners.
Anarchy will one day reign if things dont change.
Morris IIemma needs to double cop numbers...just for the safety of our good, decent people.
He also needs to closed those foul porn shops and make it an offence to possess porn... to try and elliminate sex criminals.
If you want to save a society...you will.
I think the MacQuarie Street politicians live in a fairy world of pheasant under glass and cut price alcohol in the first floor bar. The lady needs prayer. I quite often pray and ask Jesus to move people on. This is a solid beginning for the lady to have a new life:)

If someone is in fear of their physical wellbeing as the result of a verbal tirade, that included direct threats or implied a likelihood of stronger action, then the police should be called if the person on the receiving end so chooses to call them. The police should act decisively, if they have the confidence that the complaint is genuine and not exaggerated.

One of the major problems with our policing regime is its reactionary nature. That is; reactionary after a crime has been committed, despite the signs leading up to an incident often being obvious, and mitigating measures being relatively simple.

This is particularly obvious with road safety. I see many examples of rank dangerous driving of the sort that should most definitely be reported. But despite the basic principle of policing that a complaint should be dealt with, the police rarely do!!

You can't make a complaint about a chronic tailgater, speeder or aggressive and offensive driver and expect it to be acted on, unless an accident has actually occurred.

OK, so with domestic violence, road safety and lots of other matters, it is still going to often be hard for the cops to decide when to act and when not to. But crikey, they need to improve the balance a long way towards pre-emptive action.

Currently, they are effectively training drivers, who have any inclination to be aggressive and take unnecessary risks, to just go right ahead and do it!!

I guess the situation is similar with domestic violence, or at least the loud, aggressive and threatening carry-on that often precedes or accompanies it.

The police did the right thing. They can't and should NOT act on speech or agument.

Hi Ludwig,

In this case, there were implicit strong arm tactics. Whether the bloke is capable of physical violence I don't know. Nevertheless, his words were violent and have noticably shaken up my female neighbour. I know that the police should act, and immediately. There's another way of approaching this. Men who are violent, and there are many, should learn how to control their anger. Furthermore, society should stop endorsing aggression as an acceptable masculine trait. What do you think?