Women-led police stations: reimagining the policing of gender violence in the twenty-first century

Abstract

When domestic violence was criminalised in countries like Australia, United States and United Kingdom, many saw this as a victory, as the state taking responsibility for violence against women. The problem was that its policing was delegated to a masculinised police force illequipped to respond to survivors of gender violence. Latin America took a different pathway, establishing women-led police stations designed specifically to respond to the survivors of gender violence. Our research team looked for inspiration to reimagine the policing of gender violence in the twenty-first century from the victim-centred women-led police stations that emerged in Argentina in the 1980s. By emphasising a preventative over a punitive approach, multi-disciplinary teams of police, social workers, psychologists and lawyers offer survivors a gateway to support, instead of just funnelling them into the criminal justice system. Surveying gender violence sector workers and members of the general public, we sought views on the potential of adapting the protocols of these specialist police stations to Australia. We argue that if staffed by appropriately trained teams to work from both gender and culturally sensitive perspectives, women-led victim friendly police stations could side-step some of the unintended consequences of criminalisation, pathing the way for reimagining the policing of gender violence. Framed by southern criminology the project aims to redress the biases in the global hierarchy of knowledge, by reversing the notion that policy transfer can only flow from the countries of the Global North to the Global South.

Australian police perceptions of women’s police stations

“…Providing a multidisciplinary response environment to DFV where criminalisation is not the only option may help to elide harm for victims and perpetrators. While women's police stations enable a reimagining of policing moving away from a law-and-order response to DFV to a cohesive service response designated to receive and support victims (Carrington et al 2021b), legislative barriers around police requirements to initiate reports and investigation currently prevent this. Those who do not want a policing response may still come to the attention of police (for example, neighbours calling police or living in heavily policed environments).…”

Re-teorizar el progreso de las mujeres en la policía: Una perspectiva alternativa desde el Sur Global

“…La igualdad de genero es falsamente equiparada con la justicia de género. Esta perspectiva feminista liberal no tiene en cuenta el surgimiento histórico y el papel transformador único que tienen las comisarias conducidas por mujeres que emergieron en América Latina para fortalecer los derechos de las mujeres, mejorar las condiciones laborales de las mujeres policías, desafiar las dimensiones masculinistas de la cultura policial y mejorar las respuestas policiales a las víctimas de violencia de genero (Carrington et al, 2019(Carrington et al, , 2021Cavaler and Macarini, 2020;Hautzinger, 2002;Jubb et al, 2008Jubb et al, , 2010MacDowell Santos, 2005).…”

“…Las comisarías de la mujer no son sólo una rémora del pasado, más parecido al universo de las mujeres en la policía en el Norte Global antes de los 1970s. De acuerdo con nuestro estudio (Carrington et al, 2019(Carrington et al, , 2021, así como a muchos otros (Cavaler and Macarini, 2020;Co#rdova and Kras, 2020;Hautzinger, 2002;Jubb et al, 2008), estas iniciativas policiales especializadas en responder a la violencia de genero son un fenómeno innovador que tiene muchas ventajas sobre los enfoques policiales tradicionales frente a la violencia de género. Mas aun, para las mujeres provenientes de comunidades empobrecidas y desfavorecidas en América Latina, las comisarías de la mujer les brindan una puerta de entrada a recursos a los que, de otra manera, no podrían acceder, ampliando así su acceso a la justicia (Jubb et al, 2010).…”

“…Las investigaciones sobre las comisarias conducidas por mujeres en India y América Latina han identificado que ellas fomentan denuncias policiales tempranas, amplían el acceso a la justicia y proporcionan una puerta de acceso a otros servicios, lo que evita una mayor revictimización y fortalece la seguridad de las mujeres (Amaral et al, 2018;Carrington et al, 2019Carrington et al, , 2021Hauztinger, 2002;Jubb et al, 2010;Natarajan 2005Natarajan , 2008Pasinato, 2016). Las comisarías de la mujer ofrecen una respuesta integrada multidisciplinarias, aumentan la confianza en la policía y mejoran la satisfacción de las victimas con las respuestas policiales (Co#rdova and Kras, 2020).…”

Re-theorizing the progress of women in policing: An alternative perspective from the Global South

“…Gender equity is falsely equated with gender justice. This liberal feminist view fundamentally misunderstands the historical emergence and uniquely transformational role of women-led police stations that emerged in Latin America in strengthening women's rights, improving the working conditions of women police, while challenging the masculinist dimensions of policing culture and improving police responses to victims of gender violence (Carrington et al, 2019(Carrington et al, , 2021Cavaler and Macarini, 2020;Hautzinger, 2002;Jubb et al, 2008Jubb et al, , 2010MacDowell Santos, 2005).…”