Michelle Faye had never heard the term “cop-shopping” until a police officer gruffly uttered it to her in early 2021.
The Australian mother was following up about a 90-minute audio recording she had provided several months earlier, which depicted her estranged husband Daniel Gregory Mctiernan repeatedly assaulting and choking her.
She believed the horrifying evidence of her potentially life-threatening ordeal – one of many she endured – would finally prompt police to act, following about 20 interactions with officers that had led nowhere and kept her and her family living in danger.
But for months, police sat on that audio clip while Mctiernan remained free in the community, terrorizing and stalking her.
Faye hoped to find a sympathetic ear on the other end of the phone when she contacted police in January 2021.
Instead, the officer concluded it was her word against his and no further action would be taken.
“And then he told me that ‘cop-shopping’ wouldn’t help me,” Faye recalled.
“I now know that police view ‘cop-shopping’ as someone who goes from officer to officer, or station to station, until they get what they want. It’s a derogatory and belittling term used to describe someone who police view as a nuisance.”
Faye hadn’t been “shopping” her story around.
The attacks either occurred at different parts of the Gold Coast or she had gone to stations away from home when help wasn’t at hand locally.
“For me, it was trying to find somebody to actually do their job. To them, I was being deceitful or manipulative. It was disgusting. It was very aggressive. It was the first time I really realized how much damage the police were doing to me and my family,” she said.
“I hadn’t heard the term before. But when he said it, I felt absolutely awful. It felt like he was saying to be that no-one believed me, no-one was going to help me. Like, go away. You’re annoying us. It was intimidating.”
In her mind, the remark sent a “clear message” about how the police viewed her and the ongoing domestic and family violence she was telling them about.
“I was a hassle and a nuisance, taking up their time.”
The only positive interaction Faye had with police came after she begged her local MP for help, who intervened and escalated the matter to the highest levels.
Swiftly, after several terrifying years, a Criminal Investigation Branch detective was assigned to the case and Mctiernan was arrested and charged with multiple serious offenses.
He pleaded guilty to 16 offenses earlier this year, including strangulation and multiple counts of assault, and will be sentenced in December.
Much of that legal outcome was thanks to the original 90-minute audio recording that police initially dismissed.
Brushed off and ignored
For almost four years between 2017 and 2021, Faye had about 20 interactions with police seeking protection from the escalating violence, threats and stalking Mctiernan was subjecting her to.
“Lots of different stations and officers. Basically all of my interactions with police were really poor. It was begging for help, it was being told to not worry about it and just carry on,” she said.
“There were occasions where even with evidence and even when there was a domestic violence order in place, they decided not to charge.”
“Instead of allowing the courts to decide whether or not he was guilty, the police would decide. It would be a case of, oh no, this was his excuse and we accept it, even though there were protection orders. It was really poor.”
In news.com.au’s new editorial series The System, the first-hand accounts of survivors of domestic and family violence are being shared to highlight the serious failings they endure when seeking help and support.
From the police to government agencies and taxpayer-funded support services, major gaps leave survivors exposed to further harm – and can cost lives.
Faye, now an advocate for women fleeing domestic and family violence, has heard her own experiences with the system repeated to her by other survivors countless times.
She knows her case isn’t an isolated one.
She hasn’t slipped through the cracks in the system, but rather plunged through gaping holes.
While she feels let down by many elements of the system, including Queensland Health and Education Queensland, the most serious harm was inflicted by police, she said.
“The kids would call, I would call, or a neighbor would call. Whoever. The police would show up, look around, take down some information and then leave.”
“There were multiple times when it was clear I was in danger. It was obvious from holes in walls and all that kind of stuff.”
