Project promoter – Police department under the Ministry of Interior

Project partners:

• Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Lithuania

• Lithuanian National Courts Administration.

• Oslo police district

Project budget: EUR 3 588 815.16 (EUR 3,050,493.29 from the Norwegian Financial Mechanism and EUR 538 321.87 from the co-financing)

Date of signing the project implementation agreement: 2020 July 9

Project implementation period: 2020 July 9 - 2024 April 30

Project target group:

The problem of domestic violence remains acute: according to police data, in 2017. 47.9 thousand were registered in reports of domestic violence. In 2018 a decrease in the number of incidents of domestic violence was observed (41.5 thousand), but in 2019, significantly more calls of this type were identified - 53 thousand.

The need for the project is determined by the following reasons: lack of skills and competencies of law enforcement representatives in organizing the prevention of domestic violence, responding to the events of domestic violence and conducting a pre-trial investigation of domestic violence.

The aim of the project is to improve the policy of prevention of domestic violence in courts and law enforcement institutions, to strengthen competencies and inter-institutional cooperation in order to achieve effective division of functions and to prevent domestic violence.

During the project it is planned:

• to prepare a study on legal regulation of domestic violence;

• to prepare a practical guide for officials, judges, prosecutors on effective evidence gathering and assessment;

• organize trainings for members of the justice chain and NGOs, as well as specialized training for police officers responding to calls of domestic violence, community policing officers and prosecutors;

• to organize workshops on domestic violence in Lithuania and Norway;

• organize meetings with local communities and their members to raise awareness of the phenomenon of domestic violence and to reduce the latency of domestic and gender-based crime;

• to organize inter-institutional meetings, meetings with other thematic cooperation networks and local government representatives in order to strengthen inter-institutional cooperation;

• develop an IT tool to identify those most at risk of re-involvement in a domestic violence incident and to ensure the prevention of domestic violence and the protection of victims;

• to purchase portable video recorders (body cameras) that would allow more detailed recording of the circumstances of an incident of domestic violence.

The expected result of the project is an improved prevention, response system and quality of pre-trial proceedings in the field of domestic violence.
 

The target group of the project: representatives of the justice chain system, representatives of NGOs, members of the public, as well as victims of domestic violence.
 

The project is being implemented together with a Norwegian partner (Oslo Police district) and Lithuanian partners (Prosecutor General's Office and National Courts Administration). The Oslo Police Station will participate in a workshop organized by the project and share knowledge and good Norwegian practice in the field of domestic violence. The involvement of the Prosecutor General's Office and the National Courts Administration in the project will ensure synergies between institutions in the justice chain in the field of domestic violence.
 

The problem which is addressed by this project:

Domestic violence is a widespread problem in society, the true scale of which is difficult to quantify due to the extremely high latency of the problem. According to the data of the Lithuanian Department of Statistics, in 2017, 10968 crimes of domestic violence were registered; - 9529. One in six victims of violence is a child, and 8 out of 10 victims of domestic violence are women.

Project goals and objectives:

The project focuses directly on increasing the competencies of representatives of institutions in law enforcement chains - judges, other court staff, prosecutors and assistant prosecutors, police officers. Another target group of the project is members of the public who will be introduced to the phenomenon of domestic violence, how to recognize it, how to react to the manifestations of violence in the environment, which will contribute to reducing the latency of domestic violence.

The developed IT tool will allow to identify the households (persons) with the highest risk, where the re-victimization of domestic violence may occur and general, situational and individual prevention measures will be directed to them. After the transposition of the provisions of the EU Directive on the Rights of Victims of Crime into Lithuanian law in 2016, state institutions became obliged to form practices that reflect a new approach to victims of crime. The victim is no longer perceived as a means of proving the crime, and the priority is given to the victim's well-being, ensuring its protection against re- and secondary trauma. For this reason, the project focuses on the acquisition of portable video recorders and the development of an IT tool that will improve the implementation of the provisions of the Directive.

The following activities will be implemented during the project:

• The risk person management system is designed to identify those most at risk who are prone to repeated domestic violence. The first such IT tool will allow to identify the people most at risk and to prevent possible incidents of domestic violence, to systematically organize general and individual prevention.

• Joint training to promote co-operation in the justice chain and the search for solutions to common problems.

• Targeted meetings with members of the community to reach 50,000 people who will be less tolerant of domestic violence and report possible incidents to the police.

• Community officials will acquire skills and competencies that are designed to work with the community.

• The project will strengthen the prevention of domestic violence and improve the evidence gathering of officers responding to domestic violence, and the emotional and psychosocial microclimate of domestic violence is not visible in the minutes and official reports, which will ensure quality further investigation.