ROD Bezanovic describes it as a light bulb moment. He was listening to a talk by Dave Sheppard, the former head of Casey’s family violence unit, and he suddenly saw the connection with his own work as team leader of Casey’s local laws department.
“We knock on the same doors, we speak to the same people and we do the same sort of work,” he said.
The realisation of that connection led him to join the council’s men’s action group and to become an ambassador for White Ribbon, the campaign against family violence.
Now his team members are trained to recognise the signs of family violence when they are out in the community. They can report to the police and they can provide supportive evidence if necessary. “The more pairs of eyes the better.”
After 30 years in law enforcement, he says becoming involved with the campaign against family violence is one of the most rewarding things he’s done.
Colleague Nathan Islip had a similar epiphany. “I’m a father, a friend, a colleague and I’m a man. Really I only need to think about my seven-year-old daughter to resolve that I need to do something.”
Working as an urban designer with the council, he was struck by the fact that many women and elderly people felt stranded in their homes.
“I see isolated car parks, long lines of fences along highways, families under mortgage stress, the prevalence of alcohol outlets, men who are disconnected from families and homes due to their long commute, all culminating in high rates of family violence.”
He became involved in the men’s action group to inform the design community and is committed to crime prevention through environmental design.
Becoming a White Ribbon ambassador has meant going out and talking to boys and young men but also, more uncomfortably, challenging his own friends at times when they talk out of anger or frustration.
“I don’t know how much of a difference my little actions have made but if I can change one person I’ve achieved something exciting.”
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