Basseterre, St. Kitts, July 08, 2021 (SKNIS): Gender equality in law enforcement is of paramount importance to the Special Victims Unit (SVU) of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force in St. Kitts and Nevis. As such, Detective Sergeant Consie Rogers, Head of the SVU, said that the unit does not engage in gender discrimination and bias.
“Within our unit, we do not discriminate because we know that domestic violence does not pick out, anyone can be a victim,” said Detective Sergeant Rogers during her July 07 appearance on Working for You. “Most times, males are the perpetrators but sometimes we have females who are the perpetrators and we know that we are not supposed to discriminate, we are supposed to treat everyone fairly because of the fact that anyone can be a victim.”
Detective Sergeant Rogers said it can be a neighbour, coworker, friend, or anyone within the professional field, be it a doctor or lawyer.
The Head of the SVU said that she received training in numerous areas to avoid gender discrimination and bias, and she assures that her staff treats everyone fairly and with respect.
“I had training in domestic violence courses, hate crimes and sexual offence courses. I was taught not to discriminate against persons when they come to the unit to make these reports,” she said. “I also make sure that my officers in the unit do not discriminate against persons. They have to treat everyone fairly when they come to the unit to report these matters because some people take a very long time to reach the police to make a report and that is why it is very important to listen to people’s reports and deal with them fairly as if we would want somebody to treat us if we made that report,” Detective Sergeant Rogers added.
She noted that any form of violence has the potential to change the course of a person’s life and impact victims, witnesses, families and the entire community.
The SVU was established to investigate crimes of physical and sexual abuse, domestic violence, as well as crimes against children in conjunction with Child Protective Services. It is guided by the Domestic Violence Act of 2014, an Act that provides the legislative framework for addressing domestic violence and issuing protection orders.
-30-
