30 DOVVSU officials build capacity to enhance performance

The Central Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Moses Ninson, has advised Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) personnel to exhibit high moral standards in order to deal with the sensitive cases brought before them.
He said to have the moral right to deal effectively with cases brought before them, personnel of the unit must themselves live above reproach.

He was speaking on the management of sexual and gender-based violence cases at a day’s capacity-building workshop held for 30 personnel of DOVVSU posted to the Central Region.

Participants

The participants in the workshop, which was funded by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), with support from the Central Regional Coordinating Council and the Central Regional office of DOVVSU, were taken through the causes, effects and the way forward in curbing gender-based violence; how to handle victims of domestic violence cases and how to gather evidence in domestic violence cases and prosecute offenders.
DCOP Ninson indicated that if personnel themselves were not law-abiding, they could not enforce the law.
“For example, how can a person who does not provide the needs of his or her children effectively handle an alleged non-maintenance case brought before him or her or an alleged unlawful assault and battery if the investigator himself or herself assaults people,” he queried.
He also said sexual and gender-based violence was an emerging form of violence that was gaining notoriety, adding that DOVVSU had been positioned to deal ruthlessly with the canker.
He urged the participants to consider the workshop as a window of opportunity to update their knowledge and skills in the management of sexual and gender-based violence in the Central Region and in the country in general.
Additionally, he expressed optimism that the workshop would equip them to be more efficient.

Commendation

He commended DOVVSU for the various activities it had undertaken in the region recently, especially its education and training programmes.
The Central Regional Coordinator of DOVVSU, Mr George Appiah-Sakyi, indicated that DOVVSU was a special unit of the Ghana Police Service so it was important for its personnel to be constantly trained and equipped with the needed skills and knowledge for them to work efficiently.
He said such training was also to build the capacities of resource persons to enable them to support the unit’s education programmes across the region.