Last week, the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security announced that through its Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Policy Unit, it had recently launched a strategy to enhance police response to gender-based, or as it is now being called, family violence. This initiative – the Police Advanced Training and Readiness for Operational Leverage – it stated, was already in motion as 26 officers had undergone an intensive one-day session. Now, the name of this new project is quite a mouthful, but since its acronym is PATROL, it’s obvious that someone, or maybe two or more people, sat down and worked on it. And while they have succeeded in introducing an abbreviation that cleverly plays off a police routine, experience has taught us that any accomplishment is likely to begin and end there, unless there is a very different approach.
The Family Violence Act, which came into being in the latter half of last year, and replaced the Domestic Violence Act of 1996, has expanded protections offered to the abused, as well as widened the coverage way beyond the confines of the older statute. It has also extended the mandate of police officers with regard to arrests and investigations, while barring them from attempting any form of mediation. These are but a mere sample of the sweeping changes in the new legislation, which is said to address areas previously overlooked and incorporates insights from various research studies and international models. However, lest we forget, the now outmoded Domestic Violence Act had also been touted as a modern fiat in its time.
Unfortunately, as history, and the continuing loss of life have proven, in order for it to work as enacted, the law has to be upheld to its very letter. That has not been the case here. The issues surrounding enforcement have become massive boulders and those bent on committing this particular heinous crime have found ways to skirt them.
As has been noted in this column ad nauseam, violence by one person against another is a crime. Physical and other forms of abuse committed against women and girls, and in tune with the new law any family member, should therefore be attended to in the same way as any other similar offence. But that is not what has been happening here. There is an excessive amount of tiptoeing around this problem that is quite frankly nauseating; not only that, the danger to women, girls and the vulnerable is increasing. The data is sadly lacking, but the anecdotal evidence is insurmountable. One only has to view any form of media or more than likely, look at one’s neighbours, relatives or right at home to find examples.
It is therefore outrageous that nearly 30 years after Guyana passed a law addressing gender-based violence, training for the police, who are obligated to enforce it, is still being done by way of projects, programmes and catchy acronyms and slogans. Looking back, it began with non-governmental organisations like Help and Shelter training and retraining police officers. It was obvious even then that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to reach the entire staff of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) through outsourced and ad-hoc education methods. It was beyond ridiculous, but not unexpected, to hear from the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security earlier this month that 50% of the GPF had been trained in handling gender-based violence cases between 2023 and 2024. That is not an achievement to be trumpeted, it’s closer to a failure. However, the buck does not stop with the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, which though ineffectual in this instance has put its best foot forward. And to be fair, this ministry has its own massive role to play in curbing family violence, training the police should not be taking up space on its already full plate.
There are several questions that must be asked. What, one wonders, is the position of the Ministry of Home Affairs in this, since the GPF falls under its mandate? Has no president or minister noticed this anomaly? Why have there been no moves towards including this training as part of police boot camp by any of the close to half dozen commissioners of police over the last three decades? Where are/were the voices of the heads of the police academies? Does anyone know the true meaning of zero tolerance? Does anyone care or are they all marking and wasting time as the loss of life and trauma continues?
It is as clear as day that shiny new laws, snappy acronyms, catch phrases and campaigns are not going to put a dent in this scourge. It will take real work, real change and proactivity and these should all have started a long time ago, but today is not too late.
