A series of workshops on gender-based violence for members of the Royal Anguilla Police Force will end in Anguilla next week after a period of about two months. The first week of training was for five senior officers of the Force who then undertook to train the rest of the 100-member law enforcement personnel, with funding from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
“The programme is going extremely well,” said Kenneth Hodge, Principal Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs which is overseeing the training on behalf of the Governor’s Office. “The officers are all enthused, and it is really hoped that at the end of this training they will be more equipped to deal with the situation of domestic violence as part of their duties. The five local trainers are doing a wonderful job, and the feedback from the participants is that they are enjoying the workshop. ”
Mr Hodge said that as part of the training the trainers had undertaken to prepare a pocketbook of essential information which police officers could travel with as a ready reference guide.
He continued: “Some of the major areas being covered over the two-and-a-half day workshops include an introduction to violence against women; a police response to sexual and gender-based violence; how the police should investigate cases of sexual and gender-based violence; techniques on how to interview victims, witnesses and suspects; and how to protect victims and survivors. One of the most important areas is inter agencies collaboration and support.
“This area taken into account that police officers cannot do all of this alone. They have to depend a lot on other agencies. These include the Ministry and Department of Social Development, community groups, counsellors, the Health Authority and other key agencies. Then, of course, part of it has to do with prevention and proactive policing. One of the hopes of all of this is that we will see some action being taken towards the enactment of domestic violence legislation.”
