The Ministry of Interior (MoI) has responded positively to the appeal of Autonomous Women's Center (AWC). Their memo says that in order to adequately address the issue of domestic violence, MoI:
- Will increase the number of engaged police officers by drafting a new rulebook on internal organization and job classification in MoI (proportional job systematization and strengthening the capacity for combating domestic violence);
- Has standardized the accompanying documentation (event report, risk assessment, emergency measures order, statement records, emergency measures announcement).
In April, Autonomous Women's Center addressed the Ministry of Interior with the proposals on the implementation of the Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence. Namely, in the process of piloting the implementation of the Law, as well as during the numerous training courses conducted by AWC, it was established that:
- The Ministry of Interior appointed a small number of police officers to act in accordance with Art. 8 of the Law
- There is no line of work for the criminal offense of domestic violence and related crimes as envisaged in Art. 4 of the Law;
- Inadequate content of the three-day specialist training for police officers, since it is insufficiently focused on the Law and does not offer solutions to the ambiguities in its application;
- Lack of by-laws for the implementation of the Law prescribed by the MoI (emergency measures order - Article 17, risk evaluation list - Article 16, statement of possible perpetrator - Article 14).
The Ministry of Interior emphasized that the training of police officers was in the exclusive competence of the Criminal Police Academy (in accordance with the Law), which selected the topics, contents and methods of training.
AWC welcomes the effort of MoI, which will certainly contribute to a more efficient and uniform implementation of the Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence on the territory of the entire country, with less stress for the first-line police officers and senior police officers.
