Insufficient support services impede police investigations on domestic violence

The law does not give police officers the power to order a perpetrator of domestic violence out of his home, Vice-Squad Superintendent Paul Vassallo told a seminar on rape and violence.

Vassallo intervened during a session which saw a number of professionals who work hand in hand with victims of violence calling for more sensitivity from police officers investigating the case.

But a frustrated Vassallo pointed out that the police officers were doing their best with the "limited resources" they had. Intervention from the floors said it was unacceptable that a woman would be sent to a shelter when it should be the aggressor who should be removed from the house.

"The law does not give us the power to force the aggressor out of the house. Don't ask me why, because I don't know. And that is why women are sent to shelters," he said.

Vassallo argued that police officers had no support services because, per public hours, offices closed at 5pm. He explained that, being the first person on the scene, the officer would have to investigate, provide psychological help and provide first aid if the victim had been injured among others.

"Our job is not to give support services but to investigate the cases. We shouldn't be the ones to find victims a shelter, other than escorting them for security reasons," he said.

Defending the work carried out by the vice-squad - work which was also lauded by the panelists - Vassallo said it was "frustrating" that after five years no one had recognized the progress made by officers.

But what emerged from the interventions from the floor, the victims' and NGOs' complaints was not vis-a-vis the police headquarters, but about individual officers from police stations.

Vassallo said the culture of expecting the government to do and provide for everything should change while NGOs and volunteers should become more active. He drew comparisons with countries abroad where volunteers worked with the police irrespective of whether it was night or day.

"We are doing our best with nothing, but the criticism is always about us. I don't want more laws and frameworks but resources to work with. Because my role is that to investigate not to be a social worker."

During the seminar, panelists said it was unacceptable that, in rape cases, the courts would ask the victim whether she or he forgives the perpetrator before proceeding.

Vassallo noted that in domestic violence cases, the police would proceed with its investigations once a report would have been lodged. Describing the Family Court as an "animal market", he said it was unacceptable that lawyers used cases of domestic violence as "leverage" in separation cases or as negotiations with the victim.

He also said that the culture of skepticism - raised by panelists in insisting that victims faced skepticism in court - had been introduced by the lawyers themselves.

As the debated heated up, Women's Rights Foundation spokesperson Lara Dimitrijevic urged for all stakeholders to sit down and come up with a solution. She noted that after all the years discussing the issue, "we are still frustrated against each other".