Police officers can do more to address domestic violence cases – AG

Officers of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) should never hesitate to respond to reports of domestic violence.

This was emphasised by the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Mohabir Anil Nandlall, SC, during the Gender-Based Violence (GBV) medical symposium held on Sunday.

The symposium, organised by the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, took place at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), Liliendaal.

The attorney general said, “All of us in this room would have heard the complaint when police officers say that the matters are private and that they can’t get involved; that’s completely wrong.”

He noted that the Guyana Police Force benefitted from training programmes specifically aimed at educating officers on the Domestic Violence Act.

According to Minister Nandlall, the government is in the process of establishing special measures to address this social ill.

“The police have to create units within each police station to deal with domestic violence. We have begun to do this administratively…The reports have to be specially prepared and documented in a particular way,” the attorney general noted.

Each police station must also have an assigned vehicle to swiftly respond to domestic violence complaints.

Minister Nandlall added that he has engaged the Commissioner of Police to initiate lectures for officers in each division to familiarise them with the Family Violence Act of 2024 recently passed in the National Assembly.

This step is crucial as officers are responsible for operationalising and enforcing the law within society.

In 2021, the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security launched the Cop Squad 2000 Initiative, to further combat this devastating issue.

The initiative aims to train at least 50 per cent of officers within the GPF on how to handle domestic violence cases.

With these measures in place, the government remains determined to minimise domestic violence in the country and will continue to uphold a zero-tolerance approach towards police officers’ lackadaisical response to such cases.