Aswati Dorje, Joint Commissioner of Police, Nagpur inaugurated a special two-day Capacity Building Program for city cops on Trauma Informed Care & Victim Assistance. Police Didis, Child Welfare Police Officers from all the police stations across Nagpur and Social Service branch participated in the Program going on at the Commissioner office, Nagpur. Aparna Kolhe, Divisional Deputy Commissioner, WCD, Nagpur Division also addressed the inaugural session. This workshop which intends to sensitise and help the police officers for efficient work and support victims of various crimes with increased sensitivity will conclude tomorrow.
“This is a good opportunity for all the officers to gather knowledge and understanding for better case management and victim assistance. This session will also help officers, especially Police Didis who have been working in the communities with the children of age group between 12 to 18 years for trust and rapport building process. Similar sessions will be conducted to build capacities and increase sensitisation as and when needed”, said Dorje in her address.
Short documentaries were shown about crime against women and children, followed by the discussions on busting myths and sharing facts surrounding these crimes. Engaging activities like empathy drills are being conducted to discuss various concepts such as, the trauma, its effects on survivors and ways to support them. The importance of interaction for effective evidence collection from victims of abuse is highlighted. The interactive session between the volunteers of Prakruthi, the partner NGO and Police didis was conducted. Keeping in mind how police officials could be affected by second-hand trauma, the speakers also spoke about the importance of self-care.
“Over the past two days, we have been working alongside the Nagpur Police Department to train and help over 150 police officials in order to create a larger impact on sensitising them towards dealing with victims of crime and trauma, especially women and children. It has been a great collaboration and we can use this as a compass to aid learning and growth to create more opportunities like this in the future. We are very happy with how forthcoming Nagpur police officers have been in making the training program a huge success”, Prakruthi spokesperson said.
In the past, the Nagpur Police have been part of various joint activities that promote awareness among the youth of Nagpur on prevention of crime against women & children, including trafficking. The recent decline of around 5% drop in the cases of these crimes is being seen as the testimony to that commitment, and a step in the right direction.
