“Sharing the Knowledge” - Pacific Prevention of Domestic Violence ...

Participating Countries
Cook Islands
The Cook Islands Police response to domestic violence continues to be bedded in as ‘business as usual’.
The Cook Islands Policing Plan has domestic violence as Focus Area No.3, which highlights the importance the
Commissioner places on this crime. The focus of the plan is to effectively apply a whole-of-policing approach
to reducing domestic violence. A plan of action, outlining how this will be achieved, is set out within the
Policing Plan. Sgt Rebecca Ellis, the previous Domestic Violence
Coordinator, had played a key role in supporting and monitoring the
police response.
Mr John Robinson
A new development in the Police is the introduction of the CMIS
database, which has the ability to track all offences that come to the
attention of the police. Incidents are recorded on the database by the
Police Communication Centre when they first come to the attention
of the Police. From that moment, all incidents and offences are
recorded and tracked in the database from first call for service to the
outcome at Court. This provides Constable Rangi with a tool to track
all domestic violence incidents, identify repeat offenders and victims,
and build up a picture of domestic violence in the Cook Islands.
Victim information is also shared with Punanga Tauturu, the Women’s
Counselling Centre, thus ensuring a better response to victim needs.
Constable Rangi and Sgt Ellis will be working together closely, Sgt Ellis
is also a member of the Management Board of Punanga Tauturu so is
well positioned to identify and address any issues that may arise from
a victim’s perspective. This database has the potential to provide an
intelligence-led Police response to domestic violence.
This approach is still ‘work in progress’ and training is an essential part
of building competency for police and community organisations.
The PRPI training programme is very helpful in this area. Training was
held recently for police officers to update their knowledge and
skill in sexual abuse cases. Twenty one front line and prosecution
staff attended the training that focused on investigating this crime.
The Cook Islands Forensic Police officer was also on hand to support
the training. An important part of the training was how to support
victims as they negotiated the Police investigation and Court
processes. While the topic was sexual abuse, the issues of domestic
violence were also covered, as aspects of investigating the crimes
are similar. Part of this workshop included training for the doctors
and nurses from the main hospital on Rarotonga, staff from Internal
Affairs, and Punanga Tauturu. Issues of cooperation and coordination
between agencies were discussed and a working party was
considered to address solutions to these issues.
John Robinson with new DV Unit O/C Pauline Rangi.
Trying out new speed radar.
PPDVP deployments support this activity as a whole-of-policing and
community response to domestic violence. Education and training
in the outer islands has been on the back burner this year, but we will
renew our focus on this next deployment with planned sessions for
the island of Atiu.
Mr John Robinson
Cook Islands Mentor
John with members of Punaga Tauturu (NGO).
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