Supervision

It is obvious that the police need intensive training on how to investigate and record an incident of DV. The police forms must also be changed to address the areas that need to be covered in a report. Consequently, many of WSC beneficiaries report that they don’t want to deal with the police as they offer no protection. A woman reported:“When I heard about the law, I called the police after a violent episode. They came and gave a warning paper to my husband. After they left, he beat me severely. I thought I was going to die, and he warned me never to call the police again or I am dead.” The police insist that Warnings are deterring abuse since they don’t receive reports of further abuse. This is completely unsubstantiated and not accepted in international best practices.

Recommendations:

1. Warnings must be discontinued in the DV Law and in police practice;

2. EIOs must be given for 20 days and always when the Risk

Assessment indicates that the abuse occurred repeatedly over time;

3. The victim should not be asked to come to the police station for additional depositions and paperwork, especially when children are to be left unattended. The police paperwork must be minimized and be less bureaucratic;

4. Always the victim must be given a DV Support Center hotline where she can further receive assistance.

Supervision

The police are responsible for supervising the implementation of the EIOs and Protective Orders (PO). (For further information on POs see