There is a most worrying dimension to the distressing news report in yesterday’s DAILY?NATION of a woman – mother of three children – “running scared for her life . . .”.
That dimension relates to the claim by the 32-year-old woman, Shonette Williams, of the failure by the police at District “A” to respond to her call for help while her house was being burnt, allegedly by her “former lover of two years”.
The police, she said, “never came”, and the officers from the fire service were unable to save the structure (as shown in a photograph that accompanied the news report). This claim by Williams, a self-employed woman, deserves an urgent and rigorous probe, including an assessment from the fire service.
So far as other aspects of fears for her life are concerned, Williams’ case would most likely be referenced by women’s organizations and other civil society groups engaged in exposing and combating the spiral of domestic violence that continues to plague Barbados and other member states of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
The scourge of domestic violence, however, should not be viewed as a social problem to be addressed by women’s organizations. It also requires and deserves quality attention from other segments of the nation, and certainly more than the platitudes that occasionally flow from public symposia and officialdom.
Across CARICOM, domestic violence, including brutal acts of rape, physical deformities and, yes, deaths, currently compete with gun-related killings and armed robberies in a climate of menacing criminality afflicting this region.
Amid the voices of outrage and spreading reactions against the apparent weaknesses to combat waves of domestic violence and various forms of criminality that’s too difficult to ignore, there is the tendency by police services to roll out Press releases with data designed to show “progress” being made in their anti-crime efforts.
Truth is, this form of public relations often fails to make any impact of significance, particularly in the absence of a sustained anti-crime campaign with an emphasis on enlightened public/police cooperation. For instance, initiatives for efficient management of police stations where the public is confident that quick and relevant actions will be taken to ensure justice.
In the circumstances of the case involving Ms Williams, it is therefore to be expected that the Royal Barbados Police Force will be forthcoming with a response that can inspire confidence among the general public in the actions of investigative officers.
