Victim Empowerment Programme . Many police stations lack facilities for private consultation due to the absence of trauma rooms or Thuthuzela Centres. As a result, such victims often had to provide statements in environments that were not conducive to confidentiality or safety. . In some instances, lay counsellors assigned to trauma rooms were ill equipped to deal with the counselling needs of victims of domestic violence. The training of these volunteer counsellors was not monitored and/or evaluated. There was also often inadequate supervision of volunteers, as well as a high turnover of volunteers at police stations and trauma rooms. . It also appeared that there was a lack of interdepartmental collaboration between all role players responsible for victim empowerment. . Batho Pele principles were not being applied and the attitude of officials often deterred victims from laying a charge or seeking a protection order.