GLEPHA Fellow, Dr Melissa Jardine, recently presented research on “Public health policing in the Pacific Islands: Responding to Gender-based violence” at the 2024 European Society of Criminology Conference in Bucharest alongside Professor Kerry Carrington, Chief Investigator, Adjunct Professor, School of Law and Society, University of the Sunshine Coast (USC).
The research forms part of a project funded by the Australian Research Council ARC DP (210100546) and was approved by Juki Fong Chew, Acting Commissioner, Fiji Police Force.
The aims of the research include:
1. To explore the cultural complexity of responding to violence against women from the perspective of police across ranks and units in the Fiji Police Force, as well as the perspectives of a range of responders.
2. To investigate any effective examples or possibilities to enhance responses to gender-based violence in Fiji.
Interim research findings include:
•Intertwining of what is often described as a traditional Indigenous culture of shared working and collaboration with a militarised police organisation with limited institutional knowledge of multi-stakeholder working (i.e., public health approaches).
•Yet, there are distinct examples where collaboration between police/village chiefs and other services is described as very effective (relative to the context) and acts to extend the reach of the state (relational-state) and improve effectiveness of services and responses to gender-based violence issues through provision of medical, legal and social services.
The research team on the multi-year project includes Carla Unger, Senior Research Officer, USC, and, Helen Singh, Research Assistant and Masters Student, USC.
Ms Helen Singh’s research focuses on the under-addressed and under-researched problem of emotional violence among women in Fiji.