DOVVSU

THE Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service has expressed concern about increases in the reported cases of violence against children and the rate of domestic violence in the Greater Accra Region.
The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of Accra DOVVSU, Chief Inspector Irene Oppong, in an interview with the Daily Graphic, said the unit recorded 552 cases of defilement last year, while assault accounted for 2,122, cases within the same period.
She said in 2007, the unit recorded 2,172 cases of assault, while defilement cases for that period stood at 449.
She said crime statistics indicated that Accra recorded a total number 4,904 crime cases last year, as against 4,481 cases reported in 2007, and that showed an increase of 423 crime cases reported.
Chief Inspector Oppong attributed most of the reported cases in relation to domestic violence to broken homes, and pointed out that deaths of breadwinners in the family also contributed to the problem, considering the nature of the country’s extended family system.
According to her, the DOVVSU would step up efforts to ensure that people committed crimes such as defilement, rape, assault, child trafficking and threat of harm/death were brought to book.
She advised parents to be more responsible and provide their children with the needed care and protection, urging them not to leave their children under the custody of any other person.
She, therefore, appealed to all stakeholders to support the unit with its outreach programmes in order to curb domestic violence.
The Counsellor of the unit, Mr Derek Obeng, appealed to the government to support the full implementation of the Domestic Violence Act by providing the Police Service, the Department of Social Welfare, as well as related agencies with the needed resources and logistics.