The Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency (DSVA) has organised a Two-Day training for Police Personnel, State Prosecutors and Officers of the newly upgraded Family Support Unit in the State on best practices in handling cases of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV).
The Executive Secretary of DSVA, Mrs. Lola Vivour-Adeniyi, while speaking on the importance of the training, said that since the Police are usually the first point of call on sexual and gender-based violence matters, there is a need for them to be professional and responsive in their conduct, stressing also that the Police is a critical stakeholder in the Agency’s response mechanism to sexual and gender-based violence.
According to her, there is a need to increase the pool of trained police personnel to provide support services to victims, ensure victims of SGBVs have access to justice, improve investigation and evidence gathering and ensure professional handling of cases.
In her words: “The State Family Support Units (FSUs), were initially 17 but with the support of the State’s Attorney-General and the Commissioner of Police, five additional units would be upgraded in the State which includes Ilasan, Imota, Ipaja, Igando and Surulere”.
“It was not enough to just create Family Support Units (FSUs) but the need to build the capacity of Police Personnel is crucial to the smooth running of the FSUs. They need to know the laws that regulate the different criminal content, know what the law requires of them as law enforcement agents, their duties on ensuring that survivors access justice and the required referral pathway that should be activated when victims of SGBV approach the Station to report cases”, Vivour-Adeniyi further highlighted.
With the training of Police and State Prosecutors, the Executive Secretary said that access to justice would be enhanced, pointing out that there would be an increase in convictions as well as the provision of holistic care, management and support to survivors when complaints are lodged at the Police Stations.
She, therefore, advised Victims of Domestic and Sexual Violence to break the culture of silence by reporting cases to designated medical facilities and Family Support Units.
