KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — The Ministry of National Security is providing training for police personnel in conflict resolution in order to better enable them to recognise, deal with and respond to domestic violence.

This is in light of statistics, which show that approximately 37 per cent of murders committed in Jamaica stem from domestic incidents.

Speaking at a domestic violence/conflict resolution training session at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston yesterday, portfolio Minister Robert Montague said the seminar will assist in resolving conflicts and saving lives.

He noted that 90 per cent of domestic conflict results from misunderstandings.   “Many times persons are told to go back home and work it out,” he said, noting that without intervention, the conflict can escalate, resulting in hospitalisation or death.

Montague said the training will also assist police personnel in providing gender-neutral responses to victims. Reports indicate that while women are the primary victims, a growing number of men are suffering from domestic violence.

He said the sessions will also ensure that conflict-resolution personnel are assigned to police stations across the island.

In the meantime, he informed that the ministry has restarted the parish and district consultative committees (DCCs) as a means of supporting the conflict-resolution initiative.

The DCCs serve as a forum for raising and addressing problems that are affecting the police and the communities in which they serve, and to identify ways in which citizens can work with the police to resolve the issues.

The DCCs will support the work of the parish consultative committees (PCCs) in developing strategies and programmes to promote an improved quality of life at the community level, through coordinated responses to threats to personal and community safety and security.

Issues that will be addressed include domestic violence, community and police relationships, effective parenting, truancy and violence in schools, child abuse, voluntarism, youth mentorship, pubic-order breaches, and drug and alcohol abuse.

The training session also facilitated a review of current approaches to responding to domestic violence; discussions on new approaches and methods in support of a localised consultative approach; and certification of community-based policing officers and other key police operatives/first responders, across all police divisions, as domestic violence-prevention coordinators.