Associated Incidents
The Police will begin to apply this Wednesday the new protocol for assessing the level of risk of victims of gender violence, after the Secretary of State for Security has officially notified the instruction. As a novelty, the judicial authority will be alerted through an express diligence of those cases that are likely to evolve into more serious violence and even murder.
In this internal communication, to which Europa Press has had access, the reasons for the "improvement" of the forms and tools for the preparation of the police risk assessment (VPR) version 5.0, framed in the VioGén System, are explained.
The implementation of the new protocol occurs after the holding of several training days for the agents, according to sources from the Ministry of the Interior to Europa Press.
Detect especially serious cases or with minors
This is the fifth time that these mandatory forms have been updated since 2007. The aim is to "improve the prediction of recurrence of new episodes of violence", as well as "identify and alert" the judicial authority and the Ministry Prosecutor of the cases that have a risk "of special relevance" that are "susceptible of evolving into more serious violence", such as the murder of the woman.
The new police protocol also has the objective of detecting cases with minors in charge of the victim "in a possible situation of vulnerability", as indicated in the instruction of the Secretary of State for Security.
In the event that there are minors, it will be transferred to the judicial authority through a diligence and the practice of additional assessments will be advised. "Now these cases are going to be identified because they are minors in a possible situation of risk and, therefore, in another proceeding the judicial authority will be told that it is convenient to assess these minors," Rodríguez pointed out.
Another objective is to "clarify and simplify" some issues, such as the treatment of certain cases of gender violence, the application of mandatory police protection measures according to each level of risk, as well as the development of a personalized security plan. (PSP).
Risk Rating
Women who report gender-based violence by their partners or ex-partners in a Police or Civil Guard station cannot leave it without that assessment having been completed by an agent. The evaluation process takes about two hours to complete and, depending on the assessed risk, some police protection measures or others are imposed.
The agents, using different sources of information - victim, family records, witnesses, etc. - classify the risk as unappreciated, low, medium, high and extreme and, after that, it is incorporated into the VioGén System.
According to data as of February 28, 10 women remain at extreme risk, 179 at high risk, 5,183 at medium risk, 26,691 at low risk, and 25,071 at unappreciated risk, out of more than 57,134 active cases, although the system varies continuously. because its update is constant. The VPR associated with each case is always included in the police report.
"The expert, trained, proactive and rigorous intervention of these agents is essential in the assessment process," the instruction highlights. In it, the agents are summoned "not to ask direct questions of the victims, except in very specific cases and whenever there is a lack of very specific information that can only be collected by this means."
Specifically, it calls for "avoiding double victimization when collecting very sensitive and personal information from the victim or their aggressor" and "avoiding suggestions that lead to deviations or biases in the responses."
Likewise, the notification sent by the Interior indicates that the assumptions "of absence of complaint" must be made "expressly stated to the judicial and fiscal authority." It also makes special mention of the "many" crimes of gender violence committed through new information and communication technologies -digital gender violence-.
"Especially Relevant" Cases
A novelty of the new forms for risk assessment is that the judicial authority will be informed of the cases called "especially relevant" due to the risk associated with them through express diligence. The practice of additional evaluations in the judicial sphere will be recommended.
As the person in charge of the Gender Violence and Studies area, María Rodríguez, explained to Europa Press, in general, the cases that are classified as "of special relevance" will present, at least, a medium level of risk, and will concentrate above all at the top or end. "This identification of especially sensitive cases will necessarily lead to an increase in the level of risk," said the commissioner.
The new version of the police risk assessment system has fewer indicators than the previous one, which dates from 2016 -- around 30 items -- and "improves its formulation and the weight assigned to each of them," according to Rodríguez. "The new procedure includes some new forms that have been studied and learned from the previous ones, and with which they are more evolved," he told Europa Press.
Protection measures
Each level of risk is associated with specific police protection measures that will be mandatory, although any other that the police unit considers may be adopted.
For example, when it classifies a case with extreme risk, an intensive control of the aggressor's movements will be carried out "until he ceases to be an imminent threat" for the victim. The victim will be offered permanent protection and, if appropriate, there will be surveillance in the schools of the victim's children.
If the risk associated with the case is high, random control of the aggressor's movements and sporadic contacts with people he frequents or those around him will be carried out.
It also contemplates the transfer of the victim to a shelter, a relative's house or a different address, at least until the aggressor is located by the Police. There will also be frequent and random checks of the victim's home and workplace, as well as their children's schools.
With the new police assessment, those cases that include minors in charge of the victim who could be in a vulnerable situation will also be transferred to the judicial authority through a diligence. In these cases, additional assessments will be recommended.
"Now these cases are going to be identified because they are minors in a possible situation of risk and, therefore, in another proceeding the judicial authority will be told that it is convenient to assess these minors," Rodríguez pointed out.