KINGSTON, Jamaica – The number of Domestic Violence Intervention Centres (DVICs) established at police stations islandwide has increased to 10.

This follows the donation of six centres under the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Spotlight Initiative, which is funded through the European Union.

The newly-established facilities, which were retrofitted, are in addition to those at the Constant Spring and Matilda’s Corner police stations in St Andrew, and the Morant Bay and Yallahs police stations in St Thomas.

The centres provide caring intervention, support and safeguards for victims of domestic violence seeking help.

Several key stakeholders, headed by UNDP Deputy Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Linda Maguire, and Resident Representative in Jamaica, Denise Antonio, toured one of the new facilities, the St Catherine DVIC, located at the Greater Portmore (100-Man) police station, on Friday.

The centre’s donation was welcomed by the Head of DVICs, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Jacqueline Dillon, who told journalists that the number of domestic violence cases islandwide, which spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic, remains significantly high.

She informed that 8,746 cases were reported last year of which 2,000, covering wide-ranging conflicts, some fatal, were directed to the DVIC.

“This [St Catherine facility] is the DVIC that gets the most cases of all the centres right across the island. They are dealing with 500 [to] 1,000 cases a year; and so, they have a lot of work [and] a lot of interventions,” DSP Dillon stated.

She also advised that there is an increase in the number of men being abused, noting that they prefer to report directly to the DVICs, rather than calling the police stations.

“As a matter of fact, almost all the cases of men we have had came directly here. They come to the centre to speak about their issues and to ask for help,” DSP Dillon said.

Persons with disabilities and those who are foreign nationals also receive support through the centres.

Against this backdrop, DSP Dillon said DVIC managers, who are also police officers, are engaged in quarterly training annually to strengthen their capacity in handling various types of domestic abuse.

“They are trained in counselling and social work; [and] we look at trauma in domestic violence, counselling, the laws [and] we look at the psychology of self, which is important,” she shared.

Coupled with this are consistent follow-ups with survivors, which are also undertaken by the centre managers.

“We never write off a survivor. We may never hear from that survivor for two years, and we’re going through our files and decide to call this person and see what’s going on. So, for us, even though we close files, we constantly do follow-ups,” she said.

Meanwhile, Antonio said the organisation is aiming to further bolster Jamaica’s efforts against violence by expanding its Reducing Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALIENT) programme.

The 12-month initiative is currently being piloted through the joint efforts of four United Nations entities.

It aims to enhance the legislative and institutional frameworks to reduce the flow of small arms into Jamaica, and will facilitate research on violence in vulnerable communities.

“The hope is that, as we look at that [programme’s] upscaling, we’re going to look at that from the angle of violence; and we hope that we can expand [it] through our peace building fund,” Antonio said.

Citizens can report domestic abuse by calling 119 or the nearest police station.

– JIS