Guy-Alleyne: TTPS takes domestic violence reports very seriously

Senior Reporter

anna-lisa.paul@guardian.co.tt

The T&T Police Service (TTP) takes all complaints of gender-based violence and domestic-based violence very seriously.

This was the assurance yesterday from former head of the Gender-Based Violence Unit (GBVU), Snr Supt Claire Guy-Alleyne, as she noted several heinous killings in recent weeks in which both women and children were targeted by their partners.

Addressing questions on the issue during a media briefing at the Police Administration Building, Port-of-Spain, Guy-Alleyne said the Special Victims Department (SVD), which is an amalgamation of the Child Protection Unit (CPU), the GBVU and the Sexual Offences Unit set up in 2021, specifically deals with gender-based violence and domestic violence cases. She said the GBVU had also been launched in 2020 as a unit dedicated to investigating gender-based and domestic violence reports.

She admitted domestic abuse was a taboo issue in some sectors of society in years gone by but said the public was coming around to understanding the importance of eradicating the scourge.

“Some persons, even police officers long ago, probably thought that they had no business in domestic violence. That is no longer the case,” she said.

She assured the police were not sitting idly by and waiting for the public to come to them as they combat and treat with matters of domestic violence and abuse.

“We treat these matters with the level of sensitivity and confidentiality that it deserves,” she assured.

Saying officers of the SVD were highly trained on how to deal with victims in these cases, Guy-Alleyne said, “We have victims at times that don’t want to come to the station, so we would come to you. It is a change in the way police treat with these matters.”

She said a module was introduced at the Police Training Academy which sets out the legal framework and instructs officers on gender-responsive policing and domestic violence.

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