This week may have been the most proactive in domestic and family violence policing in Canberra after teams served more than a 100 orders in 48 hours.
The two "days of action" saw more than 20 officers from various ACT Policing teams working together to serve 88 family violence orders and 19 personal protection orders.
General duties officers, the high-risk domestic and family violence investigations unit and the ACT Firearms Registry coordinated to help the service and process team at ACT Policing.
Family violence orders can be an important tool to support victim-survivors escaping family violence, a police spokesperson said.
"[The orders] make it an offence for a respondent to behave in certain ways towards a protected person which might not otherwise be illegal, such as contacting, approaching, or otherwise exerting control over a protected person," she said.
During the two days, police also served five orders for interstate jurisdictions, seven subpoenas and six summons.
Such days of action were said to be operations initiated by a team facing increasing demands who called on other policing areas to help with their services.
One person was arrested during the operation while three weapons - firearms - were seized from another in accordance with a family violence order.
Laws mandate such orders to be served in person which led to two dozen police working on August 26 and 27 to locate people and serve the notices.
"This can prove challenging, especially when the person being served is actively avoiding police," a police spokesperson said.
"Additionally, investigative techniques normally used by police to locate a person are not permitted to be used when serving court orders."
Previously, one survivor told The Canberra Times, she had waited three weeks for a family violence order, and almost six weeks for a personal protection order to be served.
The police spokesperson said they would continue prioritising the serving of the orders "in an effort to ensure the respondents are fully aware of the conditions placed on them" by the court.
She said ACT Policing stood ready to assist victims experiencing family violence.
When it was safe to do so, people in these situations were asked to contact police on 131 444 or 000 in an emergency.
- Support is available: The Domestic Violence Crisis Service provides a 24-hour crisis line, advice, safety planning and information every day of the year and can be reached on 02 6280 0900. The Canberra Rape Crisis Centre provides a 24-hour crisis line and can be contacted on 02 6280 0900
