Domestic Abuse: Out of the Shadows

It’s probably true that latent tensions from the 1994 Northridge earthquake are partly responsible for what appears to be a troubling increase in felony domestic assaults in the San Fernando Valley last year.

The Valley showed a considerably bigger increase in such reports than any other part of the city last year. And the communities that suffered the most damage in the quake also reported the most dramatic increases in domestic assaults, much as several Bay Area communities did after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

But there is some good news in these numbers as well. They undoubtedly demonstrate a much greater awareness of the awful problem of domestic abuse. They undoubtedly mean that more of the abused are coming forward to report crimes. It’s also likely that many programs designed to help others spot potential evidence of abuse are beginning to have a positive effect.

“Typically, women have experienced abuse five times before they call police,” said Los Angeles Police Detective Mitch Robins of the Van Nuys Division. “The word is increasingly getting out that you can call us and we can do something about it.”

But part of the change is that the Police Department has shown a greater commitment to such cases, with specially trained detectives at all 18 divisions and such additional measures as the Van Nuys Division’s Domestic Abuse Response Team. It sends volunteer counselors out with police on domestic-abuse calls. “What’s different is that there has been a change in the Los Angeles Police Department,” said Gail Pincus, executive director of the Domestic Abuse Center in Northridge.

A state law passed last year also spells out the responsibilities of health-care workers and the medical community in reporting domestic-abuse injuries. And the workplace is even becoming a location in which employers and employees are more likely to offer help and advice to a co-worker who shows up with frequent bruises and other injuries.

It’s about time. Domestic violence has been a form of silent victimization for far too long.