Women's advocates call for police overhaul after abuse complaint refused in Nassau

A young Bahamian mother alleges East Street South officers refused her domestic violence complaint. Advocates say systemic failures demand a full overhaul.

East Street South complaint refusal sparks calls for nationwide policing reform

A 23-year-old mother's allegation that officers at East Street South Police Station refused to record her domestic violence complaint has prompted women's rights advocates to demand a complete overhaul of how the Royal Bahamas Police Force handles abuse cases, tribune242.com reports.

Lewratta Farisien says that after she was allegedly beaten by her son's father and his aunt on October 1, officers at the station declined to take her complaint. She further alleges they warned her that her boyfriend — a police officer — could be arrested and that she risked losing custody of her two-year-old son. Farisien says she subsequently filed her complaint at Carmichael Road Police Station, and that she believed her son's father's family had connections at East Street South.

Her son's father and his aunt were arrested on October 15 and charged with causing harm. Farisien has since alleged that, following the charges, officers she believed to be from East Street South repeatedly came to her home looking for her.

The RBPF has said its investigation will establish the facts and determine whether any policies or procedures were breached.

Alicia Wallace, director of Equality Bahamas, said negligence and personal bias were driving failures in domestic violence policing, and that successive governments had long refused to address the underlying problem.

"This is not a new reality," Wallace said.

She said every station should follow standard protocols for receiving complaints, with specific procedures for cases involving gender-based violence, domestic violence and violence against children. A trained officer or two per station, she argued, was not enough.

"Women in this country are violated many times over — from the interpersonal violence to the structural violence encountered thereafter — and this is a national failure," she said.

Wallace added that Equality Bahamas was still pressing for the Gender-Based Violence Bill to be passed. She dismissed the Protection Against Violence Act, 2023, as "nonsense", saying her organisation had repeatedly warned before its passage that the law would not meaningfully change the legal or social conditions affecting women and girls.

The Act requires anyone dealing with a victim of violence in a professional capacity to treat them with compassion and dignity. It covers violence between people who share a child, requires officers to take a written statement signed by both parties and obliges them to assist victims in accessing medical treatment where necessary.

In July 2023, Women United and several other women's rights groups had opposed the bill before Parliament passed it, arguing it lacked key protections contained in the Gender-Based Violence Bill — a piece of legislation advocates had worked on for more than a decade.

The Protection Against Violence Commission, which is mandated to coordinate national efforts against gender-based violence, monitor data, manage shelters and ensure victims receive support, was not appointed until February 1 this year — nearly three years after the law took effect. Women United has since raised concern that the 2026/27 draft budget did not appear to contain a specific budget allocation for the commission.

The RBPF opened the Bahamas' first standalone Domestic Violence Unit in April 2025. Wallace said the centralised unit was insufficient for a nationwide problem when many victims faced significant barriers to reaching it.

"We have, numerous times, insisted that the Domestic Violence Unit would not be sufficient in addressing a nationwide issue," she said, "in a country where the people most marginalised have limited transportation options and need to be able to go to a police station in the vicinity of their homes."

Women United president Lisa Bostwick-Dean, whose organisation works alongside the RBPF, acknowledged the force had made efforts to improve its domestic violence response but said some officers were still falling short.

She described Farisien's allegations as alarming, saying they sent a troubling message about how seriously domestic violence is taken and about public trust in the police. A child, she said, should never be caught in the middle of a threatening situation.

Bostwick-Dean commended officers at Carmichael Road for promptly assisting Farisien and recording her complaint. She said the contrast between the conduct at the two stations pointed to a deeper institutional problem.

"Every once in a while, it seems you encounter some bad actors, and it's incumbent upon the force to deal with them so that public confidence can be restored," she said.

Farisien detailed the alleged attack on Facebook and posted two videos of the altercation. By press time, the posts had been shared more than 4,000 times and had drawn over 3,800 reactions and nearly 1,000 comments.

Source: Google News BS — Crime