Police deny domestic violence cases in limbo due to Covid-19
Police have refuted claims that investigations into domestic violence cases were being sidelined during the total lockdown period due to manpower being diverted to deal with Covid-19 matters.
Sexual, Women and Child Investigation Division (D11) principal assistant director Siti Kamsiah Hassan said police will always ensure that each district has investigation officers (IOs) from the division who will investigate related cases, regardless of the situation.
"This includes in times of the Covid-19 pandemic...
Police have refuted claims that investigations into domestic violence cases were being sidelined during the total lockdown period due to manpower being diverted to deal with Covid-19 matters.
Sexual, Women and Child Investigation Division (D11) principal assistant director Siti Kamsiah Hassan said police will always ensure that each district has investigation officers (IOs) from the division who will investigate related cases, regardless of the situation.
"This includes in times of the Covid-19 pandemic which the country is now facing.
“(To begin with) Covid-19 issues will not normally involve IOs. So far D11 doesn’t have problems related to the absence of an IO on duty because they are forced to handle other tasks involving Covid-19," she told Malaysiakini.
However, Siti Kamsiah admitted that the department was affected when some IOs contracted Covid-19 or were quarantined for being in close contact with those infected and when the office had to be sanitised.
Even so, she assured that domestic abuse investigations were not jeopardised in the process.
On Sept 22, it was reported that the Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) found many IOs from the D11 department were diverted to enforce the movement control order (MCO), leaving domestic violence cases in limbo.
WAO claimed that the IOs are unable to prepare the paperwork and carry out the process of arresting and charging the perpetrators in court.
Police cannot reveal case status to third party
WAO also pointed out that without an official title and acknowledgement, the NGO's social workers are often viewed as meddling in cases.
When asked, Siti Kamsiah explained that the laws prohibit the police from revealing the investigation results to a third party.
“The investigation is confidential. The police or IOs are bound by laws and regulations, hence they cannot reveal investigation results or feedback to anyone, including NGOs.
“Case status updates will only be provided to the complainant through established channels,” she added.
WAO’s service director Charlene Murray urged the government to table the long-delayed Social Workers Profession Act in order to solve this issue.
Yesterday, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rina Harun said between January and August, the police had received 4,905 complaints of domestic violence.
This works out to an average of 512 cases a month as of August this year, compared with an average of 438 and 471 cases a month in 2020 and 2019 respectively.
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