Project Vigilance today received a silver award in the police-led category of the 2021 Australian Crime and Violence Prevention Awards (ACVPA).
The ACVPA recognise best practice in the prevention or reduction of violence and other types of crime in Australia and play a vital role in highlighting effective community-based initiatives to prevent crime and violence.
Project Vigilance is an Australian-first trial in the electronic monitoring of targeted high-risk family violence perpetrators and the voluntary bilateral monitoring of victims to enhance victim safety to reduce the incidence and impact of family violence on affected families.
Senior Sergeant Penny Reardon from Tasmania Police said that in May 2017, the Tasmanian state government announced a joint Commonwealth and State funded initiative, named Project Vigilance, to reduce the incidence and effects of family violence in the Tasmanian community.
"The electronic monitoring tool is used to assist conventional policing methods, and is seen as an added measure to enhance the safety and reduce the impacts upon women and children experiencing family violence and to hold perpetrators to account for their behaviour," she said.
"Winning this crime prevention award is validation and recognition for the entire project team for their hard work and dedication in making this initiative a success and helping to enhance the safety of affected victims and children experiencing family violence in Tasmania."
These annual awards recognise the outstanding contributions being made across Australia for crime prevention, including the development and implementation of practical projects to reduce violence and other types of crime in the community.
Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) Director, Michael Phelan APM, said that Project Vigilance is an innovative project which enables police to electronically monitor offenders in order to protect the victim and their families.
"The project has been successful in preventing further family violence incidents, but also assists police to track offenders and prevent other crime," said Mr Phelan.
All projects are assessed each year by the ACVPA Board, which is chaired by the AIC Director and consists of senior law enforcement representatives from each state and territory police service.
The awards are a joint Australian Government, state and territory initiative administered by the AIC.
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