Police charge 865 people in statewide DFV crackdown

POLICE have charged 865 people with 2,028 offences during a four-day statewide operation targeting domestic and family violence.

Running from Wednesday 13 August to Saturday 16 August 2025, Operation Amarok is an intelligence-led, offender-focussed operation that aims to ensure the safety and wellbeing of domestic and family violence victims and the broader NSW community.

The Domestic and Family Violence Command-led operation also involved officers from each regions’ Domestic Violence High Risk Offenders Team (DVHROT), along with specialist officers from Raptor Squad, Youth Command, State Crime Command’s Child Protection Register, Traffic and Highway Patrol Command, and the Police Transport Command.

Across the four days, 865 people were arrested and charged, with 269 arrest warrants executed.

Police laid 2,028 charges and conducted 1,590 bail compliance checks and 12,468 apprehended domestic violence order (ADVO) compliance checks with a total of 669 breaches identified.

Officers conducted 144 firearms prohibition order (FPO) searches, with 87 firearms and 31 weapons seized.

Domestic and Family Violence Corporate Sponsor, Acting Deputy Commissioner Peter McKenna, said police had a “relentless focus” to find and arrest the most dangerous domestic violence offenders.

“This is the 11th Operation Amarok, and we remain committed to going after the worst of the worst domestic and family violence offenders who think they can hide,” A/Deputy Commissioner McKenna said.

“Police are called to an incident of domestic violence every three minutes in NSW, and we need to ask ourselves as a society, why do we keep putting up with this?

“There should be absolutely no tolerance for this type of offending.

“We encourage anyone to come forward to police and report their concerns, we will investigate.”

Significant arrests

– About 7am on Wednesday 13 August 2025, officers from Newcastle City Police District arrested a 33-year-old man at a home in Redtail Street, Chisholm, before he was taken to Maitland Police Station.

He was charged with 13 offences.

Police will allege the man consistently contacted a woman known to him daily in contravention of an enforceable ADVO since June, including allegedly contacting the woman via text message and calls upwards of 30 times per day between Monday 21 July 2025 to Sunday 27 July 2025.

Police will further allege the man attended the woman’s home on multiple occasions where he yelled at her and damaged her property.

The man was arrested on Thursday 7 August 2025 and was charged with “contravene prohibition/restriction in AVO (domestic)”, “assault occasioning actual bodily harm (DV)”, “destroy or damage property” and “breach of bail”.

He was granted bail on Thursday 7 August 2025 and police will allege he contacted the woman several times, including allegedly contacting the woman via text message and calls upwards of 30 times per day between Thursday 8 August 2025 and Tuesday 12 August 2025.

– About 3pm on Friday 15 August 2025, officers from Port-Stephens Hunter Police District arrested a 44-year-old man on Queen Street, Rutherford.

The man was wanted for a number of serious domestic violence offences including choking a woman known to him.

It will be alleged the woman lost consciousness during one of the assaults.

He was refused bail to appear at Parramatta Local Court on Saturday 16 August 2025.

Information about the NSW Police Force response to domestic and family violence, can be found at www.police.nsw.gov.au/crime/domestic_and_family_violence.

Victims of domestic and family violence can find information about support services by contacting 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) or visiting www.1800respect.org.au.

Reports of domestic and family-related crime or abuse can be made by contacting or attending your local police station.

In an emergency, contact Triple Zero (000).