Preventing violence. Zaporizhzhia

The initiative "Ensuring the "Effect of a Permanent Local Police Presence" aimed to increase the level of community confidence in the police in the field of domestic violence prevention" was implemented by the Zaporizhzhia Regional Public Organization "Association of Psychologists and Psychoanalysts "Interaction" together with the police in the city of Zaporizhzhia with the support of the Community Policing Innovation Fund (CPIF) of the Police Training Assistance Project (PTAP), implemented in Ukraine by Agriteam Canada Consulting LTD with the financial support of the Government of Canada.  

The purpose of the initiative was to create the effect of "permanent police presence", namely, to introduce regular communication between the community of Zaporizhzhia and the police regarding prevention and response to gender-based violence to encourage reporting to law enforcement agencies domestic violence cases in families.

Objectives:

  • Raise awareness in the community about the extreme social damage from domestic violence
  • Communicate to the public the importance of reporting domestic violence to the police
  • Increase the level of public awareness of the qualification of certain crimes, including domestic violence
  • Communicate to the community the algorithm of actions in case of detection of domestic violence
  • Create a "permanent police presence effect" in order to prevent crime in a certain location;
  • Increase community trust in the police.

Outcomes:

  • Raised awareness of police officers about prevention methods and response to domestic violence by conducting a two-day training on raising awareness of police officers about gender-based violence and the protocols to provide support to the victims.
  • Increased level of community awareness of the qualification of certain crimes, including domestic violence, and the proper steps to be taken in case of a domestic violence incident.
  • Shared information about the significance of the social damage of domestic violence to the public, the importance of reporting domestic violence to the police. Some 4,000 people became the direct beneficiaries of the information campaign on combating domestic violence.
  • Increased level of trust of Zaporizhzhia community in the police and created effect of "permanent local police presence" in order to prevent cases of domestic violence. The data confirmed decreased number of complaints from victims of domestic violence to the police by almost 20%.
  • Among other achievements of the project was the engagement of police officers with, what is considered unfortunately "alien" to the current times – the LGBTI community. The involvement of LGBTI representatives in the project activities contributed to behavioral change of police officers towards LGBTI community, cultivating a tolerant attitude and perception.