Stop Domestic Violence – Don't Tolerate: 122 Victims of Violence Recorded in Prijedor in 2015

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska - Public Security Center Prijedor, in cooperation with the International Criminal Justice Training Assistance Program of the US Department of Justice, is implementing the campaign "Stop Domestic Violence – Don't Tolerate! Report Violence!", reports the Patria News Agency.

Within this campaign, police officers are educating citizens through conversations and distribution of informative and educational materials about the criminal offense and misdemeanor of domestic violence, as well as the actions of the police and other competent authorities, with the aim of protecting victims and preventing further domestic violence.

In recent years, we have witnessed an increasing number of reported domestic violence cases to competent institutions, due to victims being aware of legal norms, which was not the case in the past.

During 2015, 56 criminal offenses and 60 misdemeanors of domestic violence or violence within a family community were recorded in the area of the Public Security Center Prijedor. 52 reports of committed criminal offenses and 53 requests for initiating misdemeanor proceedings were forwarded to the competent prosecutor's office.

According to statistics, men commit violence the most, while women are the most frequent victims of violence. Out of a total of 112 reported perpetrators, as many as 103 were male.

During 2015, 122 victims of violence were recorded, including 74 women, 31 men, and 17 children.

The goal of the campaign is to inform citizens about what domestic violence is, as well as to encourage them to report violence to the police by calling 122 if they have knowledge of it, and the call can be completely anonymous, or to do so by reporting domestic violence at the nearest police station.