Reasons include privacy concerns, fear of reprisal, and desire to protect the offender and the family’s reputation. Moreover concerns about police attitudes and lack of confidence lead to the low reporting rate. 9.2.1.1 Police Attitudes Positive police attitudes towards family violence are important in facilitating a sense of safety and comfort in women seeking justice and support for protection from family violence. During consultations, several participants gave examples where attitudes of police posed barriers to the victims, through discouraging reporting or trivializing the violence. Some expressed that as a victim, one of the greatest disappointments when seeking assistance from police, was the inconsistent and ignorant attitudes and behaviors towards victims. Some victims expressed feelings of embarrassment to go back to Police because of the fear for being told off by the officers for wasting time due to withdrawing complaints, while others felt reluctant to take their case any further and would rather tolerate the violence than the indifference from the response agencies. In the SFHSS 2000, 26 of the female respondents had a partner who was a police officer. Of those officers 10 (38%) had abused their partner. Whilst the sample size is too small to draw firm conclusions it indicates that the number of officers who may be perpetrators themselves is significant. Furthermore, the presence of these officers (who are perpetrators) can place victims at even greater risk as those officers are not able to adequately deal with reported cases, and can also discourage victims from reporting. As such, this indicates a clear need for MoP to assess the attitude and perceptions of its officers towards family violence to ensure that their efforts to address family violence will not be compromised. 9.2.1.2 Protection services by Police Despite the ‘no drop policy’ clearly referred to in sections 15 and 16 of the Family Safety Act 2013, the Inquiry heard from a number of serving officers who still counsel victims of violence to go back to their partner, placing them at further risk. “Usually if it’s cases of verbal abuse [[…]] then we counsel the couple or family.” “Most of [our cases] are intimate partner violence. We try to sort the issue directly when they come. If they come twice we do the same again and if they come a third time that’s when we say they should submit a complaint.” “We spend more time counseling people than being at the outpost. We try to encourage them to think about their action rather than lodging a complaint.” Police outpost officer, Inquiry public hearings It takes a great deal of courage for a victim of family violence to report a matter. In some cases it may have been after years of abuse and very rarely is it the first time. To be counseled by the police to return to the abusive relationship is grossly irresponsible and that person is likely never to return, therefore