Integrated Safety Response (ISR) evaluations

Family violence is one of the most pressing social problems facing New Zealand. NZIER worked with Elaine Mossman and the Joint Venture Business Unit (for NZ Police and the Ministry of Justice) to evaluate the return on investment in a crisis response to family violence.

The focus was on reviewing the effectiveness of the pilots of an Integrated Service Response in Christchurch and Hamilton. The report demonstrated the power of economists working alongside professional evaluators to review programme effectiveness. The economic analysis showed that the benefits of the Integrated Safety Response unambiguously exceeded the costs. The results supported decision-makers through quantitative evidence that cut through to noisy discourse surrounding the cost.