RECENTLY, the Ministry of Public Security announced that it was seeking consultancy services for domestic violence training for the Guyana Police Force (GPF), through the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) funded Citizen Security Strengthening Programme.

This initiative will centre on the development of a module, which will focus on “skills and knowledge,” allowing the police to be more professional, with better levels of “empathy”, and “integrity” when engaging with issues of domestic violence.

This comes as no surprise, especially following the recent brutal death of a young Corentyne woman at the hands of her companion, who took his own life in the process.
The harsh public criticisms of the reported unprofessional conduct of the police officers may be recalled in the extant case; that although ordered by the court to provide protection to the butchered woman while she retrieved her personal effects from her former home, instead abandoned her to a cruel fate.

We can only say, that such an input, another in the many numerous professional conversations with members of the GPF on a social ill that continues to take the lives of our women folk, is timely, as it is intended to address critical areas of law- enforcement engagement when dealing with such a challenge, particularly when a woman’s life is at imminent risk. In fact, all cases of domestic violence should be understood in such a light, given its bloody historical data.

It has always been emphasised in this column, even in our very last one, as to the promptness that must be invoked when such reports are made to any police precinct. The mere fact that a victim approaches a law-enforcement facility, signals that  urgent assistance is being sought, despite the fact that she may  be frequent in her complaints, a latter fact that has led to most deaths, because of the failure of the police to act decisively at the outset.

A few days ago, another death stemming from domestic violence occurred in the city. This latest incident should underline the level of national concern which domestic violence must entail. Given its nature, especially its interpersonal characteristic, it is an  act that must now have a wider and all-inclusive approach in terms of reducing its high incidence and murderous brutality.

First, there is only so much that the police can do, and this has to be in their ability to assess the threat levels of a reported incident; but ensuring the removal of the  aggressor from the home/place of abode, while preparing  a course of action for  deterrence, which must be decisive and condign. Time has illustrated that slap-on-the- wrist measures such as a verbal warning has not been effective, with many victims becoming a statistic of domestic violence death.

Also too, is the fact that the policeman/woman cannot be in one’s home, as a deterrent.
Secondly, given the fact that citizens in our communities, especially in the rural areas, share mostly traditionally close relationships, and the fact that most, if not all, are affiliated to one of the three cultural/religious groups that exist in this country; as well as that in virtually community locales, that there are representative places of worship of these three bodies, then we contend that much can be done by these groups to combat and impact the brutal thrust of domestic violence, in addition to other known social ills.

Thirdly, already, there are religious bodies that have made domestic violence a regular topic in their sermons. This is in addition to frequent sessions in their community’s religious outreach programmes. But, there is need for all the other faiths, none exempted, to employ this stratagem, since domestic violence per se, is not confined to any particular ethnic/social segment of our society, as used to be erroneously, but hypocritically bandied about.

Fourthly, it is a common problem which continues to confront the nation and the sooner that every Guyanese understands this sad truth of Guyana’s social landscape, the quicker there will be a common front to confront this scourge.

Fifthly, it explains that since religio-cultural groups have the largest social catchment, with many of them boasting of a mixed ethno-presence, combinations of these can be formed for intervening in their respective communities, in assisting couples who are experiencing inter-personal challenges. Concomitantly, these can also make for learning experiences of one another’s cultural mores in a more personally in-depth manner. It is also suggested that since inter-personal problems within communities are quickly known, that without being invited, couples who grapple with domestic violence, should be approached by their community groups, rather than waiting to be approached for assistance.

It makes no sense that mention is made in the media of “shock waves” being felt in a community whenever one of its members is hacked/shot to death, by a husband/companion/paramour. Domestic violence is a national problem; it must therefore become a national concern, beginning at the community level. So, let those community groups start being formed. We are not presenting the argument that they hold the key to a permanent solution to a many-headed personal beast; but they may offer some solutions in terms of saving lives and in the process saving homes and families.