Victorian police must take a zero-tolerance approach to breaches of intervention orders, the state's Royal Commission into Family Violence will hear.
The royal commission is examining the monitoring and enforcement of family violence intervention orders on Wednesday, but the Federation of Community Legal Centres says police need to improve their approach.
In its submission to the commission, the FCLC says there have been substantial improvements in policing family violence, but it's still not consistent across the state and doesn't always adhere to the Police Code of Practice.
"The value of an intervention order is only as good as the protected person's willingness to report breaches and the police's capacity and willingness to enforce the order," the FCLC submission says.
"A client went to report an assault to police who responded by saying, `He only hit you in the head this time, that's not too bad, is it?'.
"Another police officer said to an affected family member, `Taking action may make him more angry'."
It has recommended Victoria Police ensure its policies and practices are to take action on any intervention order breach "regardless of its `magnitude'".
The FCLC also recommended specialist police training be reviewed and expanded.
Experts including the FCLC's senior policy adviser Dr Chris Atmore, Victoria's deputy chief magistrate Felicity Broughton, police assistant commissioner Luke Cornelius and retired California Superior Court judge Eugene Hyman will address the royal commission on Wednesday.
