Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee has urged that the police do more to fight domestic violence.
Addressing the Guyana Police Force’s Junior Officers’ Course No. 25 today, Rohee said that while it is understood that the handling of reports of domestic violence can, on occasions, be difficult, he believed that sufficient training and facilities have been provided to members of the Force to respond to this scourge.
He said “…eighteen Police Stations were remodeled by my Ministry under the Citizen Security Programme. The total cost of this investment was two hundred and ninety six point six million dollars ($296.6M). A key feature of the remodeling of police stations was the construction of special rooms for victims of domestic violence to make their reports in a comfortable, confidential and user friendly environment. You are encouraged to make sure that the citizens of Guyana, particularly those who are victims of intra-familial violence, get value for money’s investment in this project.
“I should let you know that statistics on domestic violence reports gathered by my Ministry show that on average there were four thousand eight hundred and twenty five (4,825) reports of domestic violence annually over the past five years.
“What the analysis also shows is that for 2011 only in three out of every ten reports were the offenders charged; for 2012, the data indicate that in five out of every ten reports were the offenders charged; and in 2012, six out of every ten reports were the offenders charged.
“What we have observed from these statistics is that increases in the charge rates correspond to declining numbers of offences reported. While recognizing that they might be many other variables at play, we have inferred from this analysis that when the Police are firm in their response to domestic violence it helps in reducing the proliferation of this offence by sending clear signals that domestic abuse will not be condoned”.
