The T&T Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS) in­tends to get tough on per­pe­tra­tors of do­mes­tic vi­o­lence and is warn­ing them that the “free pass is over.”

Po­lice Com­mis­sion­er Gary Grif­fith will launch a new Gen­der-Based Vi­o­lence Unit on Jan­u­ary 21.

The launch of the unit comes in the face of grow­ing con­cerns from sev­er­al quar­ters about the num­ber of do­mes­tic vi­o­lence deaths so far record­ed for 2020. The TTPS al­so notes the in­crease of breach­es of re­strain­ing or­ders last year.

The unit will fo­cus heav­i­ly on deal­ing with do­mes­tic vi­o­lence cas­es and breach­es of re­strain­ing or­ders.

Com­mis­sion­er Grif­fith said a cam­paign will be rolled out to the pub­lic which will state quite clear­ly that it is not busi­ness as usu­al where do­mes­tic vi­o­lence is con­cerned.

“This will not on­ly be for the vic­tim to re­port, but al­so to mem­bers of the pub­lic who have in­for­ma­tion on do­mes­tic abuse. Please pass that in­for­ma­tion to the po­lice, so we can deal with it be­fore it is too late,” he said.

Grif­fith is hop­ing to meet with all stake­hold­ers, some of whom are ex­perts in deal­ing with such mat­ters.

“We want to know that every­one is on board and to en­sure there is max­i­mum ef­fi­cien­cy. There is go­ing to be a spike in re­port­ing of do­mes­tic vi­o­lence mat­ters and this will go a long way in pre­vent­ing death or in­jury to per­sons. We want the vic­tims of such abuse to feel con­fi­dent that ac­tion will be tak­en. We al­so want to let the per­pe­tra­tors know that there will be con­se­quences for their ac­tions,” he said.

Grif­fith is al­so promis­ing that heavy em­pha­sis will be placed on per­sons who breach pro­tec­tion or­ders. He warned that “the time for al­low­ing such per­sons a free pass is over.”

Ac­cord­ing to Grif­fith, mem­bers of the Gen­der-Based Vi­o­lence Unit have been spe­cial­ly-trained by an in­ter­na­tion­al agency which was re­spon­si­ble for re­duc­ing do­mes­tic vi­o­lence in New York.

For those who feel it is not their busi­ness to re­port in­ci­dents of do­mes­tic vi­o­lence, Grif­fith made it clear that “every­one is re­spon­si­ble for their neigh­bour. Gone are the days for you to say that is not your busi­ness. Giv­ing such valu­able in­for­ma­tion may save a life. We need every­body on board where this is con­cerned.”

There have been three cas­es of do­mes­tic vi­o­lence deaths so far for 2020. They are 28-year-old Gabriel­la Dubar­ry, the 43-year-old prin­ci­pal of Ba­by’s Pre-School Jezelle Phillip and 31-year-old Pol­ly-Ann Chu­niesingh.

Dubar­ry was killed on Thurs­day by a man she knew who went in­to her par­ents’ home and shot her three times. She died at the scene. A man has been de­tained by the po­lice.

Phillip was stabbed to death in front of pre-school­ers on Mon­day. A sus­pect lat­er sur­ren­dered to po­lice.

Al­so on Mon­day, the bod­ies of Chu­niesingh, her broth­er Damien and their un­cle Randy were found at a house at Get Well Av­enue, Pin­to Road Ari­ma. The trio had been stran­gled to death. In that case, a sus­pect has al­so been de­tained by the po­lice.