Manchester police sensitise citizens on domestic violence
With a stronger need for a proactive approach to tackle domestic violence, the Manchester police hosted a pop-up clinic last Friday aimed at sensitizing individuals on the matter.
The initiative of the Community Safety and Security Branch of the Manchester police, themed ‘Enough is Enough, Let’s Talk About It’, was supported by several police officers, the Porus Parenting Club, psychologists, the Restorative Justice Centre, Northern Caribbean University and the police youth clubs across the parish, among other stakeholders.
“We want persons to be educated and know that help is available. We don’t want them to hide, but to speak about it (the issues), because if you don’t speak about it you won’t be able to get help … . We would also love for Manchester to get a domestic violence centre, because that will help. In addition to the Restorative Justice (Centre) we would have another entity to help us treat with domestic violence,” said sub-officer in charge of the Manchester Safety and Security Branch, Inspector Berthlyn Lloyd.
According to Lloyd, there have been approximately 40 domestic violence and related issues reported since the start of the year. Between June and December last year, there were approximately 98 incidents, the most cases recorded.
Further reports are that three matters are currently before the courts, while the others are being monitored .
“In the past, what we would have seen is that the police were forced to be reactive, and we want to be more proactive. What we are saying is, we need all hands on deck. It doesn’t have to be that the victim or the person in the situation comes and alert the police, but we are opened to dialogue, so we can take proactive steps to stem the domestic violence.”
With domestic violence going beyond escalated matters between spouses, Smith indicated that persons ought to be more aware of the gamut of this malady.
“Particularly, we are concerned about the elders. They, too, are victims of domestic violence, in that their caregivers sometimes abuse them, and so we are trying to reach everybody. Our children, too, are victims of domestic violence … . We are cognisant of the fact that we need to police with the community, hence our partners… .”
The deputy commanding officer indicated that all stations and sub-officers within the parish have been mandated to prioritise all reports of domestic violence to ensure that the necessary steps are taken to address the matter.
“Domestic violence is cyclical and we don’t want it to get to the point where someone is killed … . From my office, we have seen a number of such matters. We have done sessions on intimate-partner violence, family violence, and what is amazing is that persons have been asking for other sessions to be had.”
With this receptiveness to the efforts of the police, Smith indicated that the parish could see a significant reduction in the number of domestic violence incidents.
“Domestic violence is a crime and we want everybody to know that. Our initiative today is sensitisation within the context of love, because we believe that if persons are able to share love in a significant way, then that, too, will help us to see less incidents.”
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