In the previous article, Marion brought up some good questions about why abused women do what they do. And we talked about our attitudes. Hopefully, we discovered we don't help abused women by our critical, and for sure uneducated remarks.
Having been in this field of work for years, I've heard it all. That is, heard the driving questions that pins these women up against a wall. Slam dunk. Adding insult to insult. Not considering that they already get that kind of treatment from their abuser. No wonder so many abused women isolate, which only adds to their demise.
But it's not just the average person that critiques these women. Law enforcement complain that they put their lives in jeopardy attending to the domestic violence calls. That's just part of their concern. Frequently officers find the abused woman either not willing to prosecute, in cases where it's not mandatory for the DA to prosecute. And or she ends up hindering them from handling the danger at hand. Then to add fuel, many times she either gets angry at the officers and or in some cases begins to turn on them instead of their abuser.
The truth is, reports say that statistically domestic violence calls are the most dangerous for officers. They are faced with not just injuries, but with the possibility of dying. So it's easy to see why these authorities are not eager about making these calls. And why they are often frustrated with the abused woman.
There is some debate on whether these calls are as hazardous to police as once was reported by the FBI (1970s-1980s). Truth is, the report the FBI came out with was not completely clear. Later, it was discovered that the numbers of deaths reported were not all on domestic calls.
According to the book, Battleground: Criminal Justice, the FBI report showed three times the actual amount of officers killed on domestic calls. What wasn't clear in the report was that included in those numbers were actually officers killed in gang activities, bar fights, and restraining deranged people. These were in "one" disturbance category. All said and done, there were 62 officers out of 1,085 who were actually killed on domestic calls between the years 1973-1982.
More recently, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that 50 police officers across the country were killed after responding to domestic disturbances from 1998 through 2007, according to the most recent data available from the FBI. By comparison, 27 officers died in drug-related incidents.
Regardless, officers of the law do have reason for concern. However, to berate the abused women is not the answer.
Next time we will address what are the answers to helping these women in crisis. Too, we will take a closer look at what drives them to make the decisions that they do?
Make yourself aware!!! See you then!!!
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