Community and Juvenile Department head Insp. Gertrude Barker yesterday As a result women's watchdog groups are meeting with the Bermuda Police Force in an effort to change the way officers deal with and view domestic violence, The Royal Gazette has learned.

Women's Advisory Council chairwoman Mrs. Kim Young confirmed meetings were taking place between the council, the Women's Resource Centre and Police Commissioner Mr. Lenny Edwards.

Mrs. Young said the two groups would like to see Police officers better trained to deal with assaults on women by their boyfriends or husbands.

They would like to see the word "domestic'' no longer used to describe such incidents.

And they want cases of violence in the home to go to court whether or not the victim presses charges.

The two groups were also discussing with Mr. Edwards the use of a US programme that had been successful in dealing with domestic violence, she said.

Mrs. Young added the Commissioner had been very sensitive to the issue. Insp.

Barker said attacks on women were "on an upward swing'' and the people involved were "getting younger''.

And, she believed, the number of incidents would continue to rise -- and get nastier -- as long as the menace of drugs impacted on the Island.

She called on employers to play a role in preventing domestic violence.

They should take more responsibility for their workers by referring them to counselling agencies if they detect problems at home, she said. And they should make attending the sessions, in some cases, a condition of employment.

Insp. Barker's comments were made following a spate of assaults on women this weekend by their boyfriends. Police reported yesterday that a man punched his girlfriend in the face as she was sitting on their motorcycle on Horseshoe Road in Southampton during the early hours of Saturday morning. She suffered a black eye and a nose bleed.

In another domestic incident, on Lighthouse Hill in St. David's, a boyfriend chased his girlfriend into the neighbour's house after allegedly beating her.

She went to hospital on Saturday night for bruising and swelling to her face, neck and back.

Police further reported a 23-year-old St. George's man was arrested after causing a disturbance on a houseboat in St. David's.

He allegedly had beat his 20-year-old pregnant girlfriend on a previous occasion.

"There is definitely an upward swing in domestic violence,'' Insp. Barker said. "And there are far more violent domestics today because of weapons being used. Before it was just physical attacks with the hands.'' She added: "I don't think recession is the reason for the increase. It contributes but it is certainly not the problem.'' Insp. Barker believed drugs played a major part in inducing domestic violence.

There were enough women's watchdog groups to make sure adequate sentences were handed out to men who beat women, she felt.

But not enough was being done to prevent men from behaving violently towards their girlfriends or wives in the first place, she said.

"Employers and others need to be more aware of their employees' emotional problems,'' she said. "They need to have a counselling agency they can send them to if they believe there is a problem at home. And attending could be a condition of employment.'' Women's Advisory Council head Mr. Kim Young, however, took a different view.

"We have to take responsibility for ourselves and it goes right back to the home,'' she said. "Parents should start setting examples without using their hands and fists.''