3 days ago
Teddy trackers, hacked doorbell cams and spyware: Surge in DV technology abuse
Technology-facilitated abuse crimes have surged and perpetrators are getting creative with technology and even confronting victims from within prison.
Police say they've seen examples of doorbell cameras being used to survey victims, toys gifted to children containing covert cameras, and AirTags hidden in car doors to track movement.
The disturbing examples were shared as police charged 865 people with 2028 offences in their Operation Amarok XI raids, a statewide crackdown on high-risk domestic violence perpetrators.
One Inner West man arrested had allegedly contacted a woman known to him 668 times between May and August from inside a prison, breaching an apprehended violence order.
Another man, from Sydney's west, is accused of distributing an intimate image of a woman known to him, damaging her belongings and threatening or intimidating her over two months.
A key focus of police efforts, Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna said, had been catching perpetrators attempting to harass or intimidate their victims. They can now be charged under new stalking and coercive control laws.
There had been an additional 882 stalking and intimidation offences recorded between this year and last, McKenna said, driven by new coercive control legislation, as well as expanding the definition of stalking to include tracking devices.
'It's that power that they can exert on someone whilst they're not even in their physical presence. It's keeping people in fear, not knowing when this person might still come. It's keeping at the forefront of their mind the power base they have over them,' he said.
