Seminar on local police and tackling male violence towards women at the FEPSU
The Spanish Forum for Urban Security and Prevention (FEPSU), which Barcelona City Council is a member of, today made an analysis of the role of local police in tackling male violence towards women. Local police play a key role not just in advising victims and formalising reports, but also in the prevention and detection of this type of violence. They also act as an interface with other municipal services which victims may need and are the closest police corps to citizens.
Because of this, and under the title “Police attention to gender violence. Local experiences”, the FEPSU opened up a space for debate and mutual knowledge between police corps, researchers, academics and other professionals involved in support for victims of gender violence.
The seminar tackled key questions such as risk assessment, police declarations and the resilience of officers themselves, plus some successful models of police experiences launched at a local level.
One case is the Barcelona City Police Strategic Plan to Prevent and Detect Male Violence against Women, presented by the Deputy Chief Inspector for the City Police, Gemma Alfonso. The plan centres on a specific service to prevent and detect risks, improve support for women and children and strengthen coordination with all other services. The goal is to combat the invisibility of this issue, which translates into a single figure: 77% of women who died through male violence in 2021 had never denounced their aggressor.
In recent years, the City Police has also taken various measures to improve protection and support for women who suffer male violence, such as the Guide to warning indicators to detect and act in possible cases, or the creation of a reference officer for cases of male violence towards women in each district, who coordinates and exchanges information with the Victim Support Group operated by the Mossos d’Esquadra police corps. In addition, the Victim Support Service (SAV) offered by the City Police will come into service in April 2023, operating from its address at Rambla, 23, in Ciutat Vella.
Other participants in the session came from the Madrid Municipal Police, the Santa Coloma de Gramenet Local Police and the Terrassa Municipal Police, as well as professionals from the Catalan Institute for Public Security (ISPC), the University of Barcelona and representatives from the municipal councils of Terrassa and Dènia. The welcome ceremony included the participation of the FEPSU delegate and head of Prevent Services at Barcelona City Council, Àngels Vila.
