— Minister Persaud outlines urgency behind integrated response tools

RECENT headlines and viral social media posts have highlighted an issue that the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security has been working on and has now ramped up efforts to combat domestic and gender-based violence.

Speaking to members of the media at the launch of the BRAVE programme for men, Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Dr. Vindhya Persaud, shared that her ministry is not only aware of and monitoring the current cases, but is also working continuously to ensure cases are correctly and legally resolved while creating a number of new frameworks to safeguard against instances of domestic violence.

One of the most recent cases that the ministry has become actively involved in, is the case of Linden teacher, Jenel Pollydore, who was shot and killed by her ex-partner at a reception she attended at a hotel in Linden on the evening of July 19th.

While the perpetrator has since been apprehended and is in police custody, Minister Persaud stated that cases like these are becoming all too common in Guyana.
“I’m very happy to see that the police caught the perpetrator in short order. We will also be supporting the family after this. But we’re seeing too many cases of this happening. Women come, once they come to us, or once someone reports an incident of violence to us, even if the person themselves did not reportedly intervene, we will do that in collaboration with the police,” Minister Persaud said.

However, the minister was clear that the ministry faces a number of limitations, particularly when it comes to what happens after the initial support is provided.
“What bothers me with all of this is, we work with those persons to get them to the point where they’re taking these steps. But we are not the police, nor are we the courts. And bail is something that is a right, it’s in the law. But you can also, within the court system, refuse bail….” She added, “
However, she questioned, “People who are habitual or do this over and over why are they getting away with it?”
The answer, Minister Persaud emphasised, is the need to address both prevention and response.
While focus remains on educating and empowering women in harmful relationship, the minister said that the mindset of men must also be tackled.
“They also need to have the opportunity to have support, the perpetrators too work on their mindset,” she acknowledged, while adding that not all survivors are ready to leave dangerous situations.

“Sometimes we get a woman out of a situation many, many times. She refuses to stay in a shelter. Sometimes she goes back to the perpetrator.”
While shelters remain an option, both state-run and in partnership with groups like Help and Shelter, the ministry is taking a broader, more integrated approach to violence prevention and response.

A key part of this response has been the COPSQUAD initiative, designed to reform how police officers handle domestic violence complaints.
“COPSQUAD was an initiative I conceptualised because of constantly hearing people getting turned away or the reports not being done. Every single officer must be trained in this type of thing. And they must utilize what is there. They must also utilize the law,” she said.

In addition to police training, the ministry is piloting a high-tech solution to support at-risk women: a GPS-enabled panic button.
“The panic button is a button that will be given to women. And it transmits a signal to a tower that is being constructed. That signal will then alert the police as to where the person is and can intervene,” she noted while pointing out that the system is modelled off Mexico’s, where the technology helped reduce violence against women by over 50 per cent.
The ministry is also exploring ways to link the panic button to the iMatter app to streamline emergency response.
Currently, intervention is triggered through a call to 914, the ministry’s 24-hour hotline.

Minister Persaud made it clear that the aim of her ministry’s multi-pronged approach is timely intervention that saves lives.
“It’s really pulling all of these things together to have an integrated approach. So, the end point of it is to respond quickly. So, if something is happening, you don’t wait until the worst happens. We deal with it in such a way so that we can maybe save a life. Not maybe we want to save a life.” She stated.