Bridgetown.
The National Organization of Women, (NOW), the Young Woman Christian (YWCA) and he Business and Proffessional Women Club of Barbados (BPW) have welcome the annoucement by Commissioner of Police Darwin Dottin that a Family Conflict Unit is being created in the Royal Barbados Force t deal specifically with domestic violence.
On April 30, Brenda Belle, 64 was chopped to death in a house at Haggatt Hall by her enstranged husband. Belle murder has triggered much public concern since she was alleged to have made several reports to the police prior to the attack.
Over the weekend Dottin announced a new set of gudelines for police officers to follow when dealing with domestic violence.
In addition to odering an investigation into Belle's murder, the police chief said no victim of alleged dommestic violeence should be turned away from any police station.
Dottin said the previous common practice of victims being turned away and being told their matters had to be dealt with by the relevant police station must be halted immediately.
He stated that after careful evaluation some cases should involve police security.
"I believe there are some cases where the police should accompany the victims because of the serious nature of the injuries. And victims should not be sent on their own to seek help for their injuries or where there is a case of a person being continually exposed to danger", Dottin said.
The three organizations have welcome the commissioner's statement and have pledged to continue to work with the police in an effort to stamp out domestic violence in this country.
NOW president Marilyn Rice-Bowen said she welcomed the move to establish the special unit, which was long in coming. Rice-Bowen, who recently returned from St Kitts-Nevis, said the police force there had seen the wisdom in setting up a Sexual Assault Unit and it had been up and running for some time.
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