With more than 1,000 reports of abuse being reported from May to August this year, the Police Service is calling for additional resources.
Speaking at a walk against domestic violence, held through Pointe-a-Pierre and Marabella, yesterday, acting Deputy Police Commissioner Ann Marie Alleyne-Daly said more resources should be pumped into the Child Support and the Victim Support Units to deal with increasing reports of domestic violence.
Alleyne-Daly said since the Child Support Unit was established, there have been more than 1,000 reports of child abuse between May to August this year.
She also said 289 reports of domestic assault were recorded for 2015, while 11 people were murdered after domestic disputes. This marked a steady increase in domestic violence deaths with 19, 23 and 27 people being killed in 2012, 2013, and 2014, respectively.
Because of the increase in domestic violence, Alleyne-Daly said the Police Service decided to host a series of walks in all nine divisions to sensitise the nation.
“We want people to know that domestic violence destroys families and communities. We are asking people not to sit idly but to offer help to victims,” Alleyne-Daly said.
She also said there were cases where police officers sometimes take advantage of vulnerable women who are victims of domestic violence.
“This is why we are offering special training for officers. We have rolled out a number of training programmes. We are now retraining officers in the Domestic Violence Act, especially about their roles and responsibilities.
“We also have outreach programmes with community police officers to assist in parenting,” Alleyne-Daly added.
Saying that interviews have already been done to hire more social workers to work with the Victim Support Unit, Alleyne-Daly said there was a need to have more staffing.
“Since the Child Protection Unit was established in May we have 70 officers spread across the nine divisions focusing on issues relating to children. We are a bit short but we need to look at the increased reporting and then decide by how much we need to increase staff,” Alleyne-Daly said.
Acting President Raziah Ahmed, who also participated in the march, said a united effort must be made to stamp out domestic violence from the nation’s homes. Saying it was a vicious cycle that continues to affect families for decades, Ahmed said victims suffer from a loss of self-esteem.
“Many victims are caught in a love trap. They are unable to control their environment and emotions while losing their personal dreams and productivity,” Ahmed said.
Calling for citizens to band together to break the cycle, Ahmed urged victims to take advantage of the opportunities to get out of abusive relationships.
Also attending the march were ACP Cecil Santana and Senior Supt Irwin Hackshaw.