FEW police stations on the West Bank of Demerara (WBD), Region Three, have been upgraded so that domestic violence survivors can feel more comfortable when making reports and sharing their stories.

Speaking to the Guyana Chronicle on Monday, Regional Commander, Assistant Commissioner Simon McBean, related that the police force was attempting to make police stations more “comfortable” so that any citizen would feel more at ease accessing the services. However, he also highlighted that emphasis was also being placed on making these stations more comfortable for persons who have been affected by domestic violence.

In making the stations more comfortable, he indicated that the stations had been outfitted with interview rooms which were intended to give privacy to the survivors. Efforts would also be made to provide counselling services for survivors.

McBean highlighted that, so far, three stations had been outfitted with interview rooms. Those were the police stations at La Grange, La Parfaite Harmonie and Wales. The Leonora Police Station was currently being rehabilitated, and part of the new construction involved the inclusion of similar interview rooms.

“One of our main goals is to create that environment where people can feel comfortable coming to us and sharing their story, and those types of rooms can provide that type of environment where people can feel private and where they would be able to give their story in privacy,” the Assistant Commissioner said.

According to a recent report entitled: “Guyana Women’s Health and Life Experiences Survey (WHLES)”, conducted by the Bureau of Statistics, more than half (55%) of all women experience at least one form of violence at the hands of their partner.

The survey was administered among 1,498 women between ages of 15 and 64 in the 10 administrative regions of Guyana. From that, it was found that about half of all the women who experienced intimate-partner violence never sought help. The reason for not seeking help was attributed to few factors including: the lack of knowledge on what help avenues are available, perceptions of being blamed, stigmatisation, and inadequate support structures to ensure victim safety after reporting violence to the Police.

In an attempt to combat the incidence of domestic violence, Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, recently said that it becomes imperative that police stations are more user-friendly, to ensure accountability.

“We want to ensure that we make these police stations that are going to be user-friendly by members of the public and also those who will come to make complaints, those who will come to use it, those who will come to be giving witness statements. [Persons must be aware that] they are going to have privacy when talking and not be in an enquiries office making a complaint, have to speak loudly and then the entire community has to hear their business,” the Minister said. “We want confidentiality in certain proceedings and the space to ensure that confidentiality.”