At Monday evening's general council meeting, Mayor Greg Conkey and Deputy Mayor Dallas Tout called for increased resources and education within the police force in response to the campaign's findings.

The DV2650 campaign was a four-year project looking at domestic violence in Wagga run by Wagga City Council and Wagga Women's Centre. On Monday evening council received the project's closeout report.

In response to the report, Deputy Mayor Tout called for better education and action around coercive control within the city's law enforcement bodies.

RELATED NEWS: DV2650 domestic violence campaign wraps up

"I've had contact with a number of people who have sadly been in [a coercive control] situation and the experiences they've had with some of the state bodies haven't been the best," he said. "I understand some of that is resourcing but some of that is also education and this is as timely a report as you can get to touch on those things and to communicate those things."

He earlier questioned the overall understanding of coercive control - a form of domestic violence involving tactics like isolating a partner from family and friends, humiliation, controlling and tracking movements, and removing freedom to make decisions such as what they wear or how they spend their money - within the police force.

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"I don't know if you asked 10 people in the street how many of them would know what [coercive control] is and the measures by which some people take control of others by coercive control and sadly I think that also needs to be acknowledged in the police force," Cr Tout said. "[There needs to be] some education and communication within the police service themselves about coercive control."

Director of Community Janice Summerhayes confirmed funding recommended in the report will be directed to local organisations including police, and that the report and its recommendations will be discussed with Police Superintendent Bob Noble on Friday.

Mayor Greg Conkey was also in support of change, revealing he has and will continue to lobby the NSW Deputy Police Commissioner for an expanded team within the police force to deal with domestic violence.

"We will be passing on our thoughts that we need an [expanded] standalone domestic violence team... because of the number of domestic violence incidents in the city," Cr Conkey said.

The DV2650 project started off in 2018 with a research project, which found that Wagga's rate of domestic violence was nearly 30 per cent above the NSW average and troubling attitudes in a community attitudes survey.

In one promising finding, a follow-up attitudes survey conducted in 2021 found more people were able to recognise the less-obvious types of domestic abuse, such as financial control and repeated criticism.

If you or someone you know needs help, contact: 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732), NSW Domestic Violence Line (1800 656463) or Men's Referral Service (1300 766 491).

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