Police unit needs resources

WHILE we all want justice for victims of especially family and sexual offences, not much attention has been given to those tasked to ensure justice is served.
Last week, assistant commissioner of Police (ACP), Southern Command, Anthony Wagambie Jr pointed out that the family and sexual violence unit at police stations do not have enough resources to do their jobs.
Based at police stations, the unit is there to provide dedicated police services for survivors of violence, and also support coordination between other local services.
Before you start looking at bad mouthing police that they are not doing their job, take note that in the National Capital District (NCD) the police manpower is around 800 but the number would be broken up into CIDs, prosecutors and so forth and then grouped into shifts.
At the family and sexual violence units in each station there are three to five police officers and they would be the ones dealing with the cases daily.
And that is one reason why queues at the units’ were always long daily because there were not enough policemen to deal with the cases.
That is the ongoing challenge faced by the police.
The policing numbers are quite low compared to the number of cases every day.
And it is not as straight forward as we all think.
One cannot just more police officers there and here the problems are solved.
From Wagambie: “We can’t just put any police officers, they have to be police officers who have been trained and prepared to counsel, to have patience and listen to the survivors when they come.”
Several years back, The National featured a Mary-Louise Avu spending two weeks sleeping in her office at the Waigani Police Station Family and Sexual Violence Unit guarding a 28-year-old mother of three who had been accused of practising sorcery by her in-laws.
What Avu did portrays a positive aspect of the PNG police against the negatives of mainly abuse and brutality.
There has been complaints about the service and turnaround time at the various family and sexual violence units in the city in terms of attending to cases.
The deeds by Avu should be commended and encouraged to support the efforts of stakeholders who are working round the clock on making this service readily available to women and girls.
A network of family and sexual violence units, family support centres and NGOs are increasing across the country but there is much work to be done.
While the law is there to protect and support survivors or victims, a clear pathway should be readily available.
Leaving an abusive relationship can be exceedingly difficult – and inadequate services to help women plan for and cope after leaving makes it even more difficult.
The challenge now is to empower police officers to give the needed attention when cases are reported.
Training is urgently needed to make police more aware and more effective when responding to domestic violence.
With almost everyone condemning all acts of violence against women, the family and sexual violence units must be given all the support so those who work there carry out their tasks promptly and without fear or favour.
It is time the family and sexual violence unit in the Police Department is accorded the recognition it deserves to become a directorate of the Royal PNG Constabulary.
Let us not forget that those who provide such services must be financially supported and their safety should be guaranteed.