Detective Superintendent Stacey Maloney.Credit:Nick Moir
Informal reporting through the Sexual Assault Reporting Option (SARO) form,whichcan be accessed online and was promoted by Detective Superintendent Maloney and Ms Contos when they launchedNSW Police’s “Operation Vest” in late March,has increased by 43 per cent.
“We are very happy about that,” Ms Maloney said. “The more people that trust the police in terms of telling us their story ... the better.”
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But she also wants to “flip[the issue] on its head” and believes several reforms are needed to improve outcomes for sexual assault victim-survivors and offenders. She said community services need more resources,while social conversations about what sexual violence looks like must continue.
“Recent reporting over the last few months[has] certainly elevated that significantly,” she said. “It’s important that we keep that moving,and we have these conversations and make changes where we can,particularly in the judicial process.”
First,she plans to overhaul SARO and make it a more contemporary,fully digitised service. It could sit with community agencies instead of the police in the future,and Ms Maloney intends to collaborate with academics in creating a best-practice informal reporting system that is victim-centred.
“We really want to make sure that when someone does report,that they do get that therapeutic opportunity as well,” she said.