Shannon NickinsonDomestic violence is about power and control.
That is its essence, advocates and law enforcement alike say when describing the root of the crime and why it can be such an intractable problem.
It’s especially bad in places like Escambia County, where poverty and limited access to services can feed the cycle of silence that surrounds the crime.
Events like the two-day training conference on domestic violence at the University of West Florida help to keep law enforcement officers, first responders, social workers and victim advocates up to date on changes in the law, data on prevention and intervention measures and what trends at the national level may filter down.
Last week’s session brought 450 people over two days to UWF. It is sponsored in partnership with UWF, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, the Escambia County Domestic Violence Coalition and Favor House of Northwest Florida.
Back in 2006, Escambia County led the nation in domestic violence-related homicides, said Sheriff David Morgan. In 2013, the Sheriff’s Office saw a 12.56 percent decrease in domestic violence offenses, the first decrease “anyone can remember in a long time,” Morgan said.
In a way, there is a line from that grim statistical past to last year.
From that record year, law enforcement, prosecutors and social advocates focused on getting out the message about the warning signs of abusive relationships. Services and outreach improved, law enforcement focused on training, prosecution rates improved.
Morgan attributes the 2013 decrease to a broader, communitywide knowledge about the crime of secrecy, power and control.
“We’re getting appropriate reports early,” he says of the law enforcement end. “We’re getting appropriate intervention, and the key is the victim. The victim has to follow through. I can have the world’s greatest program but I can’t protect you if you allow yourself to be seduced back into that relationship.”
Still some seven years later, Escambia County maintains a troubling connection with domestic violence.
Both the Sheriff’s Office and the Pensacola Police Department saw decreases in domestic violence offenses from 2012 to 2013. The county went from 3,096 offenses in 2012 to 2,707 last year; the city went from 423 incidents in 2012 to 410 last year.
Still, the Gulf Coast Kid’s House reports that Escambia County has the 10th highest incidence of child abuse in the state.
It’s clear that something dark is at work in our collective soul.
“Domestic violence and child abuse are at the top of my list,” said Morgan. “Those are unacceptable crimes to me. I would put people under the jail if I could for those crimes.”
Solutions can be culturally specific, Morgan said. “Programs can work in New York and not work in the South.”
Dr. Kimberly Tatum is president of the Favor House board of directors and associate dean and associate professor in the UWF College of Professional Studies. She says there are many factors at play in our area that could account for the prevalence of these crimes, including poverty and limited access to resources.
Tatum was among a group that after 2006 created a fatality review team to go through the cases and look for common threads. Some of those threads led to changes, she said, including training for officers so they can determine which situations are most likely to turn deadly.
“We know when the restraining order is issued or victim is in the process of leaving, statistically that is when the relationship is most dangerous and potentially most deadly,” Tatum said.
A model Tatum said shows promise is the Family Justice Center — a one-stop center where women can get counseling, social service help, and access law enforcement and prosecutors all under one roof. It is similar to the way Gulf Coast Kid’s House is set up to handle child abuse cases.
We know the Kid’s House model works. Of the 563 cases assigned to the Sheriff’s Office special victims unit from Kid’s House, 98 percent led to convictions.
Family Justice Centers are a big commitment, Tatum said. But it might be just the kind of demonstration of community power that could help us truly make a change.
Shannon Nickinson is the editor of www.progresspromise.com in Pensacola. Follow her on Twitter @snickinson. Column appears courtesy of Context Florida.
