Victorian police need to lift their game to ensure all domestic violence reports are taken seriously.
Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius told Victoria's Royal Commission into Family Violence he is worried that some victims have told the commission their experience with police when reporting domestic violence has been less than positive.
He said one victim, who appeared at the royal commission last month, represented the opposite way police wanted victims to feel.
Susan Jones, not her real name, told the hearing she called police when her partner showed signs of abusive behaviour.
When police arrived, she and her partner were separated and she heard police laughing with her husband at the other end of the house.
She said the incident made her feel embarrassed for calling and led her partner to continue bullying her because he felt the police were on his side.
"I'm deeply concerned that any victim would hold that perception," Mr Cornelius told the hearing on Monday.
"That behaviour is not in keeping with expectations set out in the code of practice that every act of family violence is to be dealt with as a serious matter."
All police should adhere to the code, he said, especially when dealing with breaches of court orders.
Mr Cornelius said that all police officers would be aware in their "heart of hearts" that woman die as a result of a gradual increase of violence or breaches.
"An escalation has occurred and results in terrible consequences."
Mr Cornelius said police are trying new approaches to the problem.
He said an increasing number of family violence orders are being broken via social media, and Victoria Police want the power to deal with breaches and serve further orders by the same means.
"We'd be able to absolutely guarantee they'd receive it," he told the commission.
Police are also evaluating whether a trial at Footscray police station that embeds forensic psychologists in police family violence units should be rolled out across Victoria.
The aim is to give police better insight into violent relationships and associated risks.
Police in the Footscray region filed 4500 family violence incident reports last year.
While the unit aims to review each case within 24 hours, regional Superintendent Stuart Bateson said resources aren't available to revisit every case.
"We'd love to do it for everyone, but we can't," Mr Bateson said.
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