THE BARBADOS BAR ASSOCIATION is concerned about the way some police officers handle victims as well as perpetrators of domestic violence.
It was one of the major issues raised during a recent meeting between the association and the Royal Barbados Police Force.
“The Bar Council reiterated to the police . . . that it was important that the members of the force make some effort, through community policing or otherwise, to reach out to the public and put on a human face and a humane approach to their interaction with the general public, especially when dealing with both victims and perpetrators of domestic violence since it felt that Barbados could not afford to reach a state where the public felt nothing but antipathy and hostility towards its police force,” said the association’s president Barry Gale.
The Queen’s Counsel also spoke of receiving complaints from some lawyers that they were treated with “intense hostility and unnecessary aggression when they approached police officers while dealing with issues of domestic violence”.
