The Gloucester Daily Times - Wed Jan 04, 2012

American Stats show domestic violence peaks in summer

By Stephanie Bergman

Summer heat, not the tensions of the holidays, brought Gloucester's spikes in domestic violence over the past year.

Over 2011, Gloucester police responded to 271 domestic calls and made 91 related arrests ‹ about one for every three calls, according to police records.

Those calls and arrests had no correlation to the holiday season, however, and arrests were not necessarily made more often in weeks with more calls.

In all, 23 domestic calls were made in Gloucester in December, compared with 32 in July and 37 in June.

Gloucester police, meanwhile, made nine domestic violence arrests in December, compared with 12 in June and 13 in November.

According to Paula Gomez Stordy, director of community relations for Healing Abuse, Working for Change, reports of holiday domestic violence might be deceiving. She said calls might be rarer because victims want to pretend that everything is OK during a time when family relationships are widely considered paramount.

"People are trying to keep the peace," Gomez Stordy said. "When everything starts up again, we'll get those calls again."

Gomez Stordy said Gloucester police have worked hard to protect victims of domestic violence, and take part in monthly discussions about cases that have a high risk of becoming lethal.

"We all have those cases we worry about when we go home," said Gomez Stordy. She said the high-risk teams have been meeting in Gloucester for approximately a year and a half, with representatives from law enforcement, the Essex County District Attorney's Office, and HAWC, which based in Salem but serves 23 North Shore cities and towns, including Gloucester and all of Cape Ann.

The spread of the calls and arrests are mostly random, a fact that does not surprise Gloucester Chief of Police Michael Lane.

"There's no rhyme or reason to these cases," said Lane. "Family dynamics are so individual."

On average, the first week of the month brought the fewest calls and the fewest arrests, with some speculating that this could be because financial concerns are less heightened at the beginning of the month.

Calls to the police increased visibly over the course of the month, on average, city statistics show, though arrests stayed relatively steady during the last three weeks of the month.

Lane said that police policy is to make an arrest when called for a domestic case unless it is clear that the fight was just a verbal argument or in cases where there is no clear aggressor. The policy is an attempt to ensure that possibly deadly situations are not allowed to develop, he said.

Gomez Stordy said the high-risk team looks at factors such as previous strangulation, a recent separation, specific threats, extreme isolation and stalking when determining if a case is likely to become lethal.

Another factor, according to Gomez Stordy, is the presence of a child who is not the abusive partner's, reminding that partner that the abused partner had a life before the abusive relationship.

"It's all about control," Gomez Stordy said.

Gomez Stordy emphasized that HAWC offers assistance to men and women in abusive relationships even if they do not leave the relationship.

HAWC's previous name, Help for Abused Women and their Children, mistakenly left the impression that the group would only help women with children, while HAWC offers aid to men and women, with or without children, according to Gomez Stordy.

HAWC's abuse hotline is in the USA.