By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net 

A LOCAL activist yesterday criticised the Royal Bahamas Police Force for its “ill-equipped policing system” to effectively respond to the needs of domestic violence victims, saying more measures and community partnerships are needed to better protect vulnerable victims.

“Policing cannot be effective without building relationships with other government bodies, NGOs and members of the society,” said Equality Bahamas director, Alicia Wallace.

She was responding to remarks made by Police Commissioner Paul Rolle, who told reporters on Monday that police need facilities to house domestic violence victims trying to escape toxic environments.

He spoke after a recent homicide which police say involved domestic violence. The victim had reportedly made a complaint to police shortly before her death.

“We have some regulations and legal requirements when persons reside in the same home. In that (particular) case, they did not live in the same home and I believe that this is a good time that we can have that conversation where more may need to be done and more facilities be made available when instances like this happen,” the police chief said.

“As it stands right now, a person comes into the police and they make a complaint. Police have no facility as such to take a person and put them in a safe house as such. “

Calling the matter “unacceptable”, Ms Wallace said Mr Rolle’s remarks show the RBPF’s disconnect from other agencies and society.

“The fact that the RBPF does not have access to safe houses underlines the point Equality Bahamas consistently makes about ill-equipped police and a policing system that fails to meet our needs,” she told The Tribune yesterday.

“It is unacceptable for police to say they have no safe houses when we know Social Services has responsibility for assisting in housing. It becomes clearer, day after day, that government ministries, departments and agencies are operating in isolation and fail to understand the broader system they operate in.

“They should know the resources and mandates of the other bodies and be able to make necessary connections.”

On Monday, Commissioner Rolle said recent incidents have highlighted this may be the time to “fix” gaps in legislation.

“That is something that when we look back at it, we learn from it. Right now in legislation, we have protection orders. Those protection orders unfortunately do not extend in this type of situation. I’m saying this is a good time for us to look at it and fix it.”

While agreeing that current legislation needs to be revised, Ms Wallace said in the absence of specific guidelines, common sense would dictate offering protection to victims of domestic violence. “Even in absence of specific protocol for such instances, it is common sense to provide protection,” she said.

Activists have been calling on the government to implement tools to effectively address the needs of domestic violence victims. They say more educational awareness is needed about the issue and also called for the creation of a special domestic unit in the force.