New statistics show a record-high number of family violence cases, but a researcher believes the total may be higher.
A report shows police responded to 119,000 incidents last year, up seven percent on the previous year, and up 14 percent over three years.
The statistics also show over 40 per cent of police time is spent responding to family violence cases.
New Zealand Family Violence researcher Pauline Gulliver fears many more cases are left unknown to police.
"While there are people who will have multiple callouts from police, there will be people who are experiencing violence who don't call the police at all and I think that's also a concern, is that they're never going to be our total count."
Ms Gulliver says there's growing pressure on all resources, and says we may need more public funding.
"While it's a fairly heavy workplace for police, it also takes up a lot of the workload of our other social services and organisations. I guess our question is, are these other organisations adequately funded to be able to respond?"
Ms Gulliver says a long-term plan is needed to highlight resources and support needs going forward.
Newshub.
