Murder victim Kelly Wilkinson repeatedly visited police in fear. They said she was ‘cop shopping’
Murder victim Kelly Wilkinson repeatedly visited police in fear. They said she was ‘cop shopping’
Exclusive: Family calls for inquest, saying Wilkinson visited police ‘almost every day’ before she was murdered by her husband in 2021
Exclusive: Family calls for inquest, saying Wilkinson visited police ‘almost every day’ before she was murdered by her husband in 2021
"cop shopping" is also known as "finding a needle in a haystack" or "the one cop that will do the minimum of their job".
At the beginning of April 2021, police charged Johnston with four serious domestic violence offences against Wilkinson. He was given watch house bail.
In the weeks that followed, Wilkinson attempted to speak to police “almost every day” about her concerns in relation to Johnston, her sister, Natalie Wilkinson told the Gold Coast Bulletin in 2021, including allegations he had breached the conditions of his domestic violence order.
Another sister, Danielle Carroll, said at that time that Kelly had told police, “I am scared for my life, I am scared for my children’s life. We are not safe”.
When I tried to report my suspicions that my ex was abusing my kids, I was told by DCFS to stop stirring up trouble or I would lose custody.
Years later, my kids are old enough to be listened to, and the DA office still chose not to prosecute because it's he-said-she-said. Both kids have mental health issues stemming from child abuse that I have to deal with on a daily basis, all while trying to juggle my mental health as a previous abuse victim from the same man.
And then they say that victims fail to report. Well, duh. It's often safer not to.
“She reported breaches to the police five times in the week before she was murdered and all but one officer told her to basically go away and don’t come back and just come into the station once a week because you’re coming in too often to report breaches,” criminologist Kerry Carrington told the inquest.
"Stop being a victim of crime! It's annoying!"
The system is designed to fail the vulnerable. Cops are domestic abusers, racists, and fascists. We need to develop ways to protect ourselves and our community. Wilkinson should have had an option other than the cops. She needed people who had been victimized in the past or at least would believe her and stood to protect her. Folks who would take turns keeping watch over her or give her and her kids a safe place to stay.
I don't think the cops can be reformed but that doesn't mean we can't keep each other safe.
"our job is to harass brown people, not to protect the public"
It’s disgusting as I had to do something similar in Australia before I could find someone to take my domestic violence case serious. Australia cops are a fucking sham when it comes to domestic violence. “Cop shopping”. I hope they rot for coming up for a shit term they coined for boasting about their incompetence. Fucking losers.
I fucking can't man. This poor woman. What a horrible and terrifying way to die.
ACAB
Yes, cop shopping, i'm in here repeatedly trying to get even one of you to give a shit, and you've got a perjorative term just ready to hand for that exact situation.
Policy against giving a shit would go with the territory I suppose, pathological fucking institution.
Fuckin dumbass pigs
Sadly, cases like this happens in all the world. I don't know if their work tend to desensitize some cops or what, but this is not the first time something like this happen, and certainly will not be the last.
Police have the highest rate of domestic abuse as a demographic. Of course they don't give a shit.
To be fair, it sounds like this murder led to a pretty thorough external review and an acknowledgement from the QPS leadership that things had to change.