'Appoint victim support officer at all police stations'
Staff Correspondent
Speakers at a workshop yesterday stressed the need for appointing a officer at each police station to ensure better and more effective victim support services, as victims, particularly women, often do not report crime and harassment against them considering social and cultural barriers. They also emphasised strengthening referral services at police stations, training of the officers to deal with victims, effective coordination among government and non-government agencies on victim support and raising community awareness of existing services, says a press release. Police Reform Programme (PRP) of the UNDP organised the workshop titled 'Existing victim support services in Bangladesh' at city's Brac Centre Inn. Representatives from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, Ministry of Social Welfare, Bangladesh Police and Department of Social Services participated at the workshop. Former inspector general of police ASM Shahjahan said that the police department could engage policewomen for supporting the victims side by side the male officers. He said that crime is significantly underreported in Bangladesh, specially by women who often do not report because of social and cultural barriers, which the country must overcome. Additional Inspector General NBK Tripura and Programme Manager of PRP Hubert Staberhofer also spoke at the workshop chaired by Deputy Inspector General (Training) Fatema Begum.
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