It's one of the worst areas in NSW for incidents of domestic violence.
Out of the 76 police commands in the State, Lake Macquarie is in the top five for reports of violence in the home.
And police say the attacks are overwhelmingly by men against women.
The lake's local area commander, Superintendent Brett Greentree, said it's such a big issue police spend around 40% of their time dealing with domestic incidents.
"Domestic violence has caused us a lot of concern and it ties up a lot of time," he said.
Last year, police in the area recorded an astounding 3650 incidents of domestic violence, averaging 10 a day.
However, not all involve actual violence as call-outs to arguments, breaches of Apprehended Violence Orders and bail breaches are all included in the figures.
Supt Greentree explained that the skyrocketing figures reflect increasing numbers of complaints being made to police.
"There's been a massive increase in reporting lately," he said, and believes it's due to higher community awareness and education campaigns.
But there's still a long way to go, and the commander says it remains a challenge to persuade victims to come forward.
"It's a difficult, difficult situation," he said.
The superintendent said there were even occasions where police were protecting a female victim from domestic violence, but she then turned on them to defend her partner.
In such cases, sometimes the woman herself ends up charged with assaulting police.
Unlike in the past, when domestic violence was often not taken seriously by police, these days there's a 70% arrest rate.
But Supt Greentree believes we're still not seeing the full extent of the problem.
"I really think it's the tip of the iceberg, to be honest," he said.
Eastlakes and Westlakes Domestic Violence Committees have been formed, and have organised a Reclaim the Night event for Friday, October 31.
It's aimed at raising awareness of and ending sexual violence against women, and making the streets a safer place for women.
Reclaim the Night marches began in the 1970s in Europe, the United States and the UK, often in direct response to high-profile violent crimes, such as the Yorkshire Ripper murders.
The Lake Macquarie event will include a free sausage sizzle, entertainment and speeches as well as a march, and will be held at the Warners Bay rotunda from 5.45pm.
Superintendent Brett Greentree spoke to Aaron Kearney on 1233 ABC Newcastle Breakfast.
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