Police units to protect women

ISTANBUL / BALIKESİR

In a recent protest, some women wrapped themselves in white clothes, symbolizing death and called for anti-violence. DHA photo.

Istanbul police have launched a city-wide initiative to provide quick-response protection for women under the threat of violence from men by appointing some 78 law enforcement officers specifically dedicated to the purpose in 39 districts.

Currently 67 women who have already been subjected to violence are under the protection of special police units in Istanbul.

Police stations in each of the city’s 39 districts will have two staff members who are going to work full time on the project, while they will also be training other colleagues in handling domestic violence situations and violence toward women.

In addition, district police units will be conducting patrols at certain intervals near the homes of women under special protection, daily Akþam reported.

The Istanbul police’s Public Safety Department initially decided to establish a unit under its own branch, but reservations about the inherent difficulties in intervening in different parts of the city from the singular location to other places caused by traffic jams led the police to widen the scope of the project.

At the moment, staff members in a police department in the district of Gayrettepe are handling any problems that may arise regarding the 67 women under special protection, but police units from the nearest district department are dispatched to the women’s homes in an emergency.

A private firm, Telista Biliþim, has also made contact with officials to gain permission for the use of a device called “Mizi” that it has begun to import. The device, designed for smartphone systems, sends an alert message and provides the location of the device’s owner in case of an emergency.

Meanwhile, a woman in the northwestern province of Balýkesir was stabbed to death by her husband as they stood in the street next to her mother. Figen Köçer, 32, had moved to her mother’s house after abandoning her husband Mehmet Sadýk Köçer, 36, on the grounds that he was subjecting her to violence, according to the Doðan news agency.

Figen Köçer had also filed a divorce lawsuit against Mehmet Sadýk Köçer, who is reported to have an extensive criminal record. Law enforcement officials have reportedly launched a sweeping search to catch the fugitive man.