“When women experience violence, they usually turn to the police before any other authority for protection. Risk assessment and risk management are two vital steps… police officers can take to ensure the immediate and ongoing safety and well-being of those affected”.
This much was noted by the European Institute for Gender Equality in 2019.
Globally, about 1 in 3 women have been subjected to either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported in 2024.
Moreover, over 30% “of all murders of women” are committed by intimate partners.
Domestic Violence in Saint Lucia
Gender based violence is a nagging issue and while “it may not seem [like] anything is happening the police are working arduously to ensure that women in Saint Lucia remain safe,” Acting Deputy Commissioner of Police Dr. Mashama Sealy said at a press conferences on Tuesday- weeks after two young women – Alana Bernard and Jolie William, were murdered.
“Domestic violence is very complicated,” she said, and “we have to acknowledge that [victims] may not necessarily want to leave the individual immediately because emotions are involved. That is where counselling is important… where a person needs to focus on their safety… and that is where we come in to provide the necessary guidance to help the individual make the best decision for themselves… and their families.”
She said the Vulnerable Persons Unit in the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force (RSLPF) focuses “on not just sexual offences but dealing with everybody who is considered vulnerable … persons who experience domestic violence, the elderly and children. I would say what we do may not be perfect, but we are one of the few islands who have a vulnerable persons’ team [that] focuses on persons who experience domestic violence.”
But even then, women continue to suffer.
“Allow the police to effectively investigate”
“I want to encourage everybody who are victims of domestic abuse and even crime in general, to allow us to go to the next step,” Police Commissioner Verne Garde said at Tuesday’s press conference.
“We have a situation in Saint Lucia where generally individuals make reports for future reference and do not allow the police to effectively investigate things [at] the level of investigation that we need to do. We need to urge Saint Lucians to assist us to be able to go to that next step,” the CoP stated.
According to him, “Through the investigation, we would be able to properly advise and align you with the proper services needed for the help that you have come for. It really restricts the police in general when individuals would have serious matters and come to the police and just ask for this thing to be placed on record without giving us the real strength that we need to go through investigations.”
The CoP said that they have taken an aggressive approach – “This is a conversation that myself and the deputy had, I think, last week; we do so in a way that registers how important we think domestic issues are and the public has to have some form of confidence in the investigation, because, you know, I usually give the examples where I too was an investigator and have done a few domestic issues.”
Police Force Seeing “Good movement” with Witness Protection Programme
The police commissioner told the press they’ve seen “some good movement” with the witness protection programme, and over the last 180 days or so, “we’ve been working with various persons to offer them that kind of protection.”
“Earlier on in my stint, there was a level of difficulty to roll out resources, but the resources are available for us to assist in the witness protection programme. So if it’s a situation where persons envisaged that they will be needing particular protection, work with us quietly so that we can offer the amount of services that we have so it could redound to a proper solution,” he emphasised.
Need to retrain officers: “We need to make sure the victim is protected”, says ACP
There’s always room for improvement at the RSLPF, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Elvis Thomas noted.
“In the past, we’ve had quite a few issues, and so we recognise the need for us to improve on the quality of our service. Over the years, we’ve engaged agencies like Raise Your Voice where they have actually come on board and provided training for our police officers as it relates to gender violence; the new Domestic Violence Act,” ACP Thomas explained.
“I engaged Raise Your Voice [last year] so we can do some additional training because we recognise the need for us to retrain. There is always a need for us to retrain, particularly with the new Domestic Violence Act. The onus is not just on the victims, but… there is a lot more responsibility on the officers as well, and so we need to make sure that the victim is protected… male or female,” he added.
Moreover, he stated, “We need to make sure that we play our part—police officers as well as citizens. And so more and more, we will see a better approach to that whole issue of dealing with domestic violence and so we need our officers to be more emotionally intelligent… and to have a better understanding and approach to the whole situation.”
For the record, Superintendent Luke Defreitas said, “The Royal Saint Lucia Police Force takes violence against anybody… very seriously.”