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Police, social service workers attend class on domestic violence issues

Thursday, August 27, 2009
By GEOFF RANDS/Staff writer

Editor's note: This story is the first of three reports on domstic violence training.

Several law enforcers, employees of The Lighthouse Shelter and others met at the Saline County Health Department Thursday, Aug. 20, for training that included the topic "Community policing to reduce domestic violence."

Karlin Breshears, probate clerk, addressed the class regarding orders of protection.

To place an order of protection against someone, she said, the person filing the order must have the target of that order's social security number or date of birth.

Orders of protection are difficult to serve without an address, whether that address is the individual's home or place of employment, said Breshears.

Though an order of protection is in effect once it has been filed, Breshears said, charges for a violation of that order may be impossible to file until it has actually been served to its recipient.

There is now a telephone number where persons who file an order of protection can learn if that order has been served, reported Breshears. This number is 866-5-MOVANS, or 866-566-8267.

The same information can be viewed at www.vinelink.com.

Breshears also made a clarification about the term "stalking." In order for contact to be defined as stalking, there must be more than one count of the behavior, she said.

Also, according to the law, the term does not apply to actions of or interactions between persons who are married, in relationships or family members.

At the beginning of his presentation, Detective Roger Gibson defined domestic violence simply as "any abusive or coercive behavior used to control an intimate partner."

It "includes multiple actions; a pattern of manipulative and violent tactics."

Domestic violence is not limited to male-female couples who are married or dating, said Gibson.

It can occur also in relationships of former couples as well as homosexual and transgender persons.

Same-sex battering often causes homosexual, bisexual and transgender victims to feel they cannot seek help due to the social and even legal issues surrounding same-sex relationships, said Gibson.

Same-sex "batterers may threaten to 'out' their partner at their jobs, to their family, friends or landlord," said Gibson.

Because many in same-sex relationships have not "come out" to these individuals, they fear the repercussions such information might bring, such as loss of jobs and support of family and friends, Gibson said.

Victims of elder abuse often tolerate the abuse, said Gibson, because of the economic vulnerability of the elderly, who may "fear poverty, homelessness or loss of health care benefits if they report abusive behavior."

Those who see the effects of elder abuse often assume the injuries are simply due to old age, said Gibson.

Gibson listed some "red flag" behaviors in children that suggest a child may be witnessing domestic violence at home. These include aggressiveness, passivity and acting withdrawn, manipulation, rebellion and acting out. Psychological "red flags" Gibson listed included depression, self-mutilation, phobias, eating and sleeping disorders and nightmares.

A child who repeatedly witnesses domestic violence may also develop health problems such as headaches, stomachaches, irritable bowels, backaches, skin rashes and mouth ulcers.

Such children may also develop post-traumatic stress disorders, Gibson said.

These clues are important for patrol officers to keep in mind when dealing with youth, he said.

"Just because we work a beat and we patrol around and we answer calls doesn't mean we can't take a little more time to get to know them," said Gibson.

Making mental notes of such behavior can lead to a discovery of domestic abuse.

Public Safety Training Specialists, Marshall Assistant Police Chief David Roscher's training company, presented the training sessions.

In attendance for the day's classes, which also included "protecting victims of domestic violence," "identifying victims of human trafficking" and "giving sworn testimony," were William Barger and Roy Bennett of the Salisbury Police Department; Joyce George, Robert Record, Roger Gibson, Joseph Valiquette, Thomas Ryburn, Charles Henning and Luis Perez of MPD; Executive Director of The Lighthouse Shelter Debbie Wallace; and Breshears. Both Wallace and Breshears also gave presentations to those present.

Contact Geoff Rands at marshallreporter@socket.net

Comments

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First, I'd like to commend Geoff Rands on a thoughtfully composed series of articles on domestic violence that delve further into the issue than most: his attention to the less explored aspects of domestic violence, particularly same-sex and transgendered partners, is refreshing.

In response to Ray's comment: Misandry, in any form, is antithetical to feminism. Feminism, as a concept, seeks equality with men, as opposed to dominance over them. Further, "radical" feminism does not denote a more bellicose (or dishonest, as you seem to think) approach to achieving equality; it is, by definition, a branch of feminism that details specific theories about the root cause of inequality. Anyone who would purposely hijack and attempt to manipulate the investigative and judicial processes with regard to domestic violence with the specific intent of fraudulent accusation is not a feminist, radical or otherwise.

This is not to say, of course, that this does not happen or that female-on-male domestic violence is not a serious issue, but any feminist worth his or her salt understands that any action that vitiates the trust relationship between victim and system is counterproductive to the movement for equality.

I'm looking forward to the third installment from Mr. Rands.

-- Posted by shinola76 on Fri, Aug 28, 2009, at 11:53 AM

There was some misinformation in an earlier article about shaken baby syndrome. People are being falsely convicted and jailed for life on child abuse charges when a vaccination reaction kills their children. http://www.whale.to/vaccines/sbs.html

http://www.thenhf.com/vaccinations_18.ht...

From:

http://www.marshallnews.com/story/156483...

Simmerman spent some time talking about shaken baby syndrome, Munchausen by proxy and sudden infant death.

Medical symptoms classically associated with shaken infants include breathing difficulties, seizures, dilated pupils, lethargy, unconsciousness and retinal hemorrhaging, meaning bleeding in the back of the eyeball, said Simmerman, possibly in both eyes. Shaken infants will often show no other external signs of abuse.

He stated that, for all intents and purposes, "retinal hemorrhage in infants is ... conclusive evidence of shaken baby syndrome, in the absence of a good explanation."

The only "good explanations" for retinal hemorrhaging are other incidents where an infant's head would be thrown about, such as a severe auto accident or a fall from great height onto a hard surface. In both cases, he said, there will be other evidence as to what happened, such as a damaged vehicle or other injuries to the child.

-- Posted by Third Child on Thu, Aug 27, 2009, at 4:00 PM

Again what I fail to see mentioned here is the use clever, manipulative people make of the protective system. False accusation acted upon by police and courts is abusive - and a waste of time and taxpayer money. Usually false accusation is not investigated or punished. So a person using "abuse by proxy" can keep repeating the abusive practice. Both men and women use the system. False report calls to the child abuse hotline have been a common way to mamipulate a system - by both men and women. False accusation of threat or assault are more readily used by women. Awareness of false accusation to control or punish another person in domestic situations is often lacking in Saline County.

-- Posted by Cat13 on Thu, Aug 27, 2009, at 3:27 PM

Radical feminists have lied about domestic violence for years and have indoctrinated police, prosecutors, judges, lawyers and others into their misandrist lies about domestic violence. Many men have been battered by violent women, then battered again by the misandrist, taxpayer funded domestic violence industry.

http://tinyurl.com/6fdyvk

http://tinyurl.com/nlv87h

-- Posted by Ray on Thu, Aug 27, 2009, at 1:44 PM

Response by Geoff Rands/Staff writer:

Indeed, men involved in heterosexual relationships are often the targets of domestic violence perpetuated by their female partners. Men involved in abusive homosexual relationships often find the system fails to work for them, he said.

"Service providers such as social workers, police officers, hospitals, and judges may be heterosexist and treat LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) victims with hostility or in ways that are demeaning or even abusive," said Gibson.

However, Gibson outlined a few reasons why it is generally easier for men to move forward after leaving that sort of an abusive heterosexual relationship, which included the fact that, as a generalization, if only one person in a heterosexual household is working, it is most commonly the man. This means a man who leaves a home where he is abused by his partner will likely be able to begin getting back on his feet within as little as two weeks, Gibson said.

Additionally, according to Debbie Wallace, executive director of The Lighthouse Shelter, only 17 men utilized services of The Lighthouse Shelter during 2008 due to domestic abuse, while 805 women utilized the Lighthouse's services for the same reasons during the same time period.

The services are different to a degree, she said, in that men cannot stay at the shelter, but instead, Lighthouse employees work with local hotel managers to house male victims there.

Gibson noted in his presentation that there are very few shelters aimed toward helping men who are victims of domestic violence.