Domestic Violence in our city – A sense of the moment with Deputy Chief Foxworth

Submitted by Deborah Lavery Powers

Staff Reporter

Today, October 31, is the last day of  2013‘s Domestic Violence Awareness Month.  But it is far from the last day in 2013 that domestic violence will be reported to our local police department.    This year, our City  officers have responded to an average of  1.12 domestic violence calls  per week.   Nine of them in October, alone.

But those raw statistics only tell a part of the story.

Let’s start by looking at one paragraph in the recent Proclamation regarding domestic violence,  presented by the City of Fernandina, in partnership with Micah’s Place and the Nassau County Volunteer Center.

“WHEREAS, coordination between law enforcement, civil/criminal courts, health care providers, batters treatment programs, and domestic violence centers has proven to be the best way to provide for the safety of victims.”

Deputy Chief  Mark Foxworth reports that the safety of victims often — but not always – starts with a call to the police during, or directly after, domestic violence has occurred.

After receiving such a call, and once on the premises,  police (1) separate the accused from the victim if the abuser is still present, (2) offer medical assistance to the victim, (3) arrest the abuser, (4) provide the victim with transportation and/or telephone contacts for a shelter, (5) leave when the safety of the victim is assured, (6) report the violence to State officials.

The above 6  rather clinically stated steps are, in reality, hardly ever clinical at all.    Each step, except the last, is wrought with the possibility of  resistance, terror, aggression, shame and guilt.

Deputy Chief Foxworth gives us a sense of the moment:

“The most horrible part about domestic violence is that it is so unpredictable.  We’re  dealing with a situation where someone is being hurt by someone they love. As we come in and try to quell the situation, sometimes the [victim’s] loyalty to the abuser comes back and if we’re trying to arrest the aggressor, the victim oft-times becomes sympathetic and takes the aggressors’s side and resists us. It’s a volatile situation.  You don’t know who is going to do what.  In such situations, the aggressors are acting violently, but we don’t know if they are armed, or if they will redirect their aggression toward us.  And then, too, we’re worried about safety.  Are there children in the house?  Or other victims in the house?  Is there a husband and son, a mother and daughter?  It’s all totally unpredictable.”

At times like these, the victims (in this example, women) often say things like:   “it was my fault,” or “he’ll lose his job and we need the money,” or perhaps,  “you’’re going to make it worse for me because once he comes home…”

Deputy Chief went on to say that 25 or 30 years ago, it was common for patrolmen, sympathizing with such victim  pleas,  to simply depart the premises after telling the couple that if there was another domestic violence call  from their house, “someone is going to jail.”    Or officers would instruct the couple, “Consider yourself divorced from right now until tomorrow morning at sunrise.”  And then pointing to the aggressor, tell him.  “Leave and don’t come back until then. “  Removing the accused from the property for the night was a common practice/solution at that time.   Foxworth added, in reflection,  “it was a different time.  We as a society have come a long way since then.”

Police now work with, and fully support,  the Proclamation’s words that “coordination between law enforcement, civil/criminal courts, health care providers, batters treatment programs, and domestic violence centers has proven to be the best way to provide for the safety of victims,”   As Foxworth says,  “We have gone from most victims once having little hope to victims now having resources that offer assistance at every step of the process.”

According to the  Deputy Chief:

1.     We now have  State statutes and police procedures that  require a report be written up on every accusation — or indication of – domestic violence.  Those reports are filed at police headquarters and also forwarded directly to  Micah’s Place.  Thirty years ago, such reports weren’t required.   Thirty years ago, we couldn’t track domestic violence — nor the details regarding it.    Now we can.   (See Florida Statute 741.20)

2.     Victims are told about, and offered transportation to the nearest emergency shelter, in our case, Micah’s Place.  (24-hour hot line:  904-225-9979 or 800-500-1119. )

3.     Victims who have family, or a well established support system, may decide to seek shelter with them, rather than go to Micah’s temporary shelter.   Police  leave the decision to the victim but “we always tell them, ‘You can get help.  It is out there.’”

4.    Statute 741.29 also requires that Police arrest the aggressor if he is  found.

5.     Each victim is given a copy of the Victim/Witness Services Guide.   The first sentence in the Domestic Violence Section of the guide reads, “No one, not even someone you live with, has the right to beat you or threaten you with violence.”

6.  Victims are always offered medical assistance.

7.      Before leaving the victims, police always  confirm that they are in a safe place.

Foxworth feels that going hand and hand with improved State statutes and police procedures, is the  improved education about domestic violence. When he was a young officer, help and education weren’t necessarily available.    In reality, what  came to be  known as “the battered women’s movement,“ — which spearheaded countrywide education and assistance —  didn’t  start emerging with vigor until  the 1970’s.    It wasn’t until November 1976 that the first domestic violence shelter in the State of Florida (Hubbard House in Jacksonville) opened its doors.

Deputy Chief emphasizes that though we, as a society,  have done an excellent job of educating the public over the last 30 years — and consequently fewer people are afraid to report domestic violence — there are still  too many times when the victim never reports the crime or seeks assistance.  He wants to encourage victims not to hide the violence (like was standard practice years ago),  or feel responsible for it (they aren’t); he hopes they will seek help — directly from the police (911), from Micah’s Place 24-hour hot line (904- 225-9979 or 800-500-1119 ), from their doctor or the ER,  or from a personal attorney.

If victims follow Deputy Chief Foxworth’s suggestion, our police and Micah’s Place could (perhaps?)  start receiving a greater number of domestic violence reports —  rather than fewer.   If  a rise in the numbers does occur,  it could signify that dedicated outreach and education programs are producing the positive results hoped for:   that an increasing number of victims are coming forward to report the domestic abuse they are experiencing so help can be provided to them.

Raw statistics only tell a part of the story.

Editor’s Note: After a career in adult education, where writing, course design and development were her “beat”, Deborah now enjoys the world of freelancing, and volunteering.  Deborah often covers the police beat for the Fernandina Observer.  We thank Deborah for her many contributions.

October 31, 2013 5:46 p.m.