We Thank Jenny Wilson for speaking to "Our Streets"

Jenny was kind enough to allow us to publish her notes from her speech.

Good Evening, my name is Jenny Wilson and I am the Divisional Commander for both the Ballarat and Moorabool Police Service Areas which cover five Local Government Areas. It is my role and responsibility to deliver all policing services to these areas, with my primary responsibility to ensure that these communities remain safe. I’ll return to this issue a bit later.

Before continuing, I would like to acknowledge and pay my respects to the traditional owners of this land, the Wathaurong People, both their elders past, present and future and give thanks to them for allowing us to meet here today. May we all walk softly and gently on their land.

At another time, I was a university student studying Sociology at Latrobe University. As part of my studies I learnt about social movements and understand the very important role they play in creating change in our society. I would like to welcome all of you and congratulate you for coming and participating in ‘Reclaim the Night Ballarat 2018’ and for being part of a social movement that is not just active in Ballarat but is both national and international.

Tonight I am reminded of one of my favourite quotes of the Sociologist Margaret Mead;

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful people can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”

So again, congratulations to all of you for your involvement and being part of this social movement.

I know that many of you will be motivated to come here for various reasons. Some of my motivations include;

Being a childhood victim of family violence, for being a victim of sexual assault by unwanted touching both in my workplace and in public places, for receiving and witnessing inappropriate sexualised comments and commentary, for watching my friends share the same experiences, for knowing amongst my seven female school friends that at least a couple would have been sexually assaulted most likely by someone they know, for knowing amongst my male colleagues that whilst many act brave and courageous that a number of them too will have been sexually assaulted again most likely by someone they know, for the adult victims both male and female whose stories of sexual violence I have listened to and recorded, for the children who’s horrific stories of sexual violence, exploitation and violent abuse I have listened to and interviewed (in both cases it has been such a honour), for the victims’ hands I have held in criminal court trials and for the women and men who have been murdered in Victoria this year, especially those as a result of family violence, random acts of violence and for another person’s gratification.

I want to acknowledge that I have sourced some of my information from the South Eastern CASA website and encourage this as a great point of reference.

Researchers have estimated that:

• One out of ten women will be raped in their lifetime (Offir, 1975; Haines 1985);

• Thirty eight percent of girls and nine percent of boys will be sexually assaulted in some way by the time they are 18 years of age (Finkelhor, 1979; Russell, 1983; Goldman, 1986);

• Approximately ninety three percent of adult sexual assault victims are women (West, 1986; Finkelhor, 1979; Baker & Duncan, 1985);

• In one out of ten homes incest is taking place (National Coalition Against Sexual Assault Conference Papers, 1987).

After 29 years of policing, I am still surprised by the capability of and horrified with the different ways one human being can inflict violence upon another, especially those who are perceived as being weaker. When you think you have seen it all, the threshold is passed again.

How did we get here?

There can be no doubt due to overwhelming evidence that males are over represented as perpetrators of violence against women and many theories exist as to why this occurs. Research has found that despite ongoing belief male motivation to assault is driven by mental illness or abnormality or in some cases men who have had experiences that have left them feeling powerless, only a small number of these men go on to being violent. The most common factors that are being seen as drivers of this type of behaviour are a desire for power and control which can be linked to how children are socialised, especially around the treatment of women and children, and societal attitudes in general. For example, our society permits and encourages aggressiveness in males. In regards to sexual assault, this is directly linked to an expression of power and in turn it happens to be the less powerful members of society, i.e. children (both females and males) and women who are its victims.

So tonight I was asked to talk about safety on our streets. For me this creates a paradox. As I mentioned in my lead in, it is my role to protect you and that is something I’ve been doing for a very long time. However, in order to protect you I must at the same time acknowledge that, whilst I believe and aspire for a world where everyone lives free of violence, my reality is that this is presently not the case. Therefore, it would be irresponsible of me as your local police leader to talk to you tonight as if this was the case.

So I want to talk to you about crime prevention and what we call the LOV triangle. The LOV is based on the Routine Activity Theory, where LOV represents the analysis triangle standing for location, offender and victim. The theory follows that for a problem (violent crime) to occur the three elements need to be present. In this case, for a violent crime or an incident to occur, a motivated offender comes together with a suitable / vulnerable victim at the same place at the same time. The second part of the problem analysis triangle is that if there is no capable guardian (a protective influence) on any of these three elements. A crime or incident will then always occur.

What are examples of capable guardians?

• Victim – A group of female friends who are at a nightclub have made a pact that they will look after each other, that no matter what no one will go home with a stranger, no one will be left behind and someone is a designated, sober driver.

• A young man from the country is out on the town in the Melbourne CBD and has been drinking but he is not on his own. He is with three other guys, one is sober and looking after the others, so the group of youths who are driving around looking to king hit young men for fun pass them by due to lack of opportunity.

• Offender - A father is talking to his son discussing how to speak with women, he teaches and role models positive behaviour, open communication, kindness and mutual respect.

• A mother is talking to her son about what consent actually means, it’s not no means yes, it’s not yes if she accepts a cup of coffee or if her school dress is above her thigh. She provides advice about what to do if this occurs.

• A police person sees a youth offender released from a juvenile detention centre and knows it is likely he will mix with the wrong crowd, take drugs and rob the local liquor store. The police person visits the youth, refers him to some supports services and the youth re-engages with school.

• Location - The police identify that local youth are regularly gesturing at young women as they walk past the rotunda at the park at dusk. The location of the rotunda is a secluded park and is lacking guardianship. Police conduct a site visit and engage with local council which identify opportunities to increase lighting and remove vegetation to allow clear visibility of the space by local residents.

Social spaces that are damaged and run down, often with graffiti, become less and less frequented by the general public which then opens up the opportunity to attract elements who will create incidents due to the area’s loss of guardianship.

These are very simple examples and may be small ideas or considerations for how problems and crimes of violence can be avoided. The police cannot act as the guardian alone, the council cannot be the guardian alone, and the victim cannot all the time have sufficient guardianship (protection); at times neither will an offender. But together as a community we can do a lot to provide guardianship over not just our vulnerable community members, our vulnerable spaces and our vulnerable offenders but over all of our community members.