Police in Barbados will be given powers, under amended domestic violence legislation, to enter premises without warrants and issue emergency protection orders to safeguard victims of domestic abuse.
They will also be required to respond to every single domestic violence complaint they receive.
Under the Domestic Violence (Protection Orders) (Amendment) Bill 2016, introduced in Parliament by Minister of Social Care Steve Blackett yesterday, law enforcement officers are also empowered pursuant to an order of the Court, to seize any ammunition, firearms or other weapons in the possession or control of perpetrators of domestic violence, whether or not those weapons were used to commit acts of domestic violence.
The amendments come against the background of research showing that there were 62 deaths resulting from domestic violence between 2003 and 2015, with the highest incidence occurring in 2003, when 10 women died at the hands of men.
