Domestic violence seen as minor

2005-02-10 08:39

Elsabé Brits

Gordon's Bay - Many police officers consider charges of domestic violence as minor and have little sympathy for those involved.

This is according to Antony Altbeker, senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies's crime and justice programme.

He was speaking at a crime seminar here and was specifically involved with a domestic-violence workshop organised by the Centre for the Study of Crime and Reconciliation (CSCR).

During 2003, Altbeker did research at 11 police stations in South Africa, and tried to determine exactly how the police did their work.

"I don't share the opinion of certain police officers that they don't need to protect people inside their own homes and that it is a private matter," he said.

Altbeker accompanied police to numerous crime scenes and noticed that officers consider domestic violence as a "minor crime".

'They act only after violence'

He said they acted only if there already had been acts of violence and not if they believed violence could ensue.

The Domestic Violence Act makes provision for arrests to take place if the officer feels that violence may occur in the near future, said Altbeker.

Many police believe their efforts in these situations are worthless.

Altbeker said they also didn't have the expertise to do something about the fundamental problems that led to domestic violence.

Lisa Vetten, manager of the gender programme at the CSCR, said she'd learnt from experience that many police were adrenalin junkies, especially in big cities.

"They just want to go to where there are murders and robberies.

"The domestic-violence cases bore them, and they consider them minor, while it's quite the contrary.

"They very often lead to women being murdered," she said.

Claim they haven't got resources

Heléne Combrinck, co-ordinator of the gender project at the University of Cape Town's community legal centre, said various police officers often claimed they had no resources.

"People don't need resources to tell a woman what her rights are, and it doesn't happen in many cases.

"Women can now also lay a criminal charge with the police after a domestic-violence incident, and they can get a protection order from the court.

"Many women don't know this, and it's the police's responsibility to inform them," said Combrinck

- Die Burger