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Domestic abuse right here in Happy Valley? Unfortunately yes, lots of it
By Lizzy Scully
Domestic violence keeps police and violence advocates busy in Logan. The Community Abuse Prevention Service Agency phones ring off the hook, while the Logan Police Department deals with an average of two calls per day. "It happens a lot more than people think," said police Detective Brian Low. "As of today there have been 596 cases this year," he said in early December. These cases do not always involve arrests. There have been 117 arrests so far this year, Low said. "By far half of these have been for assaults," Low said. An assault means someone has been injured. About 25 percent of all assaults involve repeat offenders. According to Jill Anderson, the executive director of CAPSA, last year they had 11,000 calls. "Not all the calls were primary victims," she said. "It could be the same person three or four times, it could be neighbors, clergy." CAPSA helped 712 people with out-of-shelter services and 260 with shelter services. This means that they brought 260 people to confidential shelter locations and they helped 712 people with other services such as counseling, support groups and protective order assistance. According to both Anderson and Low, the reports of abuse have increased since the early 1990s. "It goes up quite a bit every year," Anderson said. In 1990 there were 195 shelter assists and 95 out-of-shelter assists. Anderson said that these increases could be a result of the population increases in Cache Valley, but also because of increased awareness about domestic violence. She said that by getting out into the community, CAPSA is letting people know that it is more available. "We are doing a lot of programs," Anderson said. "We did over 300 presentations in high schools and middle schools in Cache Valley." There is also a 24-hour mobile crisis team. Law enforcement will call one of the advocates and that advocate deals directly with the victim by providing counseling and other services that the officers are not trained to provide. CAPSA responded to 354 calls in 1999, she said. "The numbers jumped tremendously in 1993 and 1994 because of the O.J. Simpson case," Anderson said. "This really had an effect of people wanting to do something about domestic violence." In the case of rape, CAPSA is just now starting to break ground. About 85 percent of calls are related to domestic violence and about 15 percent of the calls are related to rape, she said. At the police department only four out of 596 domestic violence cases were related to sexual assault, Low said. Although not many homicide have happened in Logan, two out of five were related to domestic violence, Low said. About half of all homicides nationally are related to domestic violence. According to Low there was an increase in cases in 1997 when the domestic violence investigator position was established. This mostly had to do with recognition of what constitutes domestic violence in Utah. The situation does not always have to involve a husband and wife. It includes anyone who is or has ever co-habited, such as: room mates, family members or divorced couples. The charges can be anything from assault and harassment to stalking, theft or burglaries. The penalties are enhanced if the domestic violence charge is attached to any case. In most cases the victim is a woman, however, it is not always the case. According to Low, out of 117 arrests 77 percent were men and 23 percent were women. "Most people are under the assumption that it's mostly the males, but one in every four calls results in a female arrest," Low said. "Some are mutual combat situations and sometimes the male goes beyond self defense and beats up the female." In these cases both the female and male are arrested. "The most interesting thing is that people think that these are small, weak men," Anderson said. "But they are of all sizes." Sometimes they are large men who are unwilling to return the abuse." Female violence against males is under-reported, said both Low and Anderson. One problem is that men don't always feel comfortable coming forward. "Most instances the guy won't call because he's embarrassed," Low said. To make things more comfortable for males CAPSA started a male mobile crisis team where men are available to talk to male victims. Although it is a problem, violence against males is often less serious than violence against females. According to Low, the injuries are generally less serious. Injuries for all victims of violence are generally not extremely violent, Low said. "I would say of almost 600 cases, we've probably had 25 to 30 initiated from the ER and probably another 50 from the doctor's or dentist's office," Low said. The other 50 refers to injuries that may not need immediate attention, but the victim will get help the next day. According to Anderson there are lots of hospital calls and even the non-hospital calls are considered serious. Although some actions may not be extremely violent, they may lead to more violent actions. "It's a progression. The longer you're in an abusive relationship, the worse it gets," Anderson said. "When the response is to throw dishes they are beyond the point of yelling. You have to ask yourself what is the next step." "The most dangerous time for women is when they've left," she said. "It's all about power and control. The aggressor feels an even greater loss when the victim leaves, so they will escalate the violence. Seventy-five percent of the women admitted to the emergency rooms have already left their aggressor." In Logan most cases involve white couples who are between the ages of 20 and 40, Low said. It's not very high with minorities. According to both Low and Anderson, the problem is not only in the poorer or less educated communities, it reaches from Cliffside to wherever the low end of town is. "There's no one particular group that seems to be more susceptible than any other that I can tell," Low said. "The Hispanic community is more closed and they deal with problems
within their own communities rather than seeking help outside," Anderson
said. Although Hispanics are hard to reach, Anderson said, CAPSA does
offer a Hispanic services program. One case worker is dedicated to the
Spanish-speaking community. CAPSA also offer all its literature in Spanish,
she said. |
Archived Months:
September
1998 |
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