2. Police Reform & Modernization: Domestic Violence
Technology must be used to develop more non-lethal tools to use and create new protocols for ensuring all criminal activity is adjudicated in court and not in a morgue. We want to mirror Norway where there are no police killings or the killings of police. We must appeal lethal force laws which promote cultural violence. To stop the killing start with the use of non-lethal tools during domestic violence related arrests.
In New York two police officers were shot responding to a domestic disturbance call which is the most dangerous encounter for police. According to the FBI's Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) database from 2011 to 2020 of the 503 officers killed 43 were killed during domestic violence responses.
Domestic violence impacts all socio-economic ethnic groups in America. Abuse can be physical (beating), sexual (rape), emotional (constant criticism), economic (deny resources), psychological abuse (threatening) and technological abuse (using online applications to threaten/demean). Tragically, women, men and children are drawn into this devastating tragedy. Often relatives and friends who intervene are killed or injured. Police are also killed or injured when trying to make a domestic arrest or intervene.
Police report over a million domestic violence calls per year. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics 4,970 women die in America each year when they attempt to leave their relationship. In the workplace 12% of women report verbal abuse. The Center for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) reports one in three women (35.6% and 1 in 4 men (28.5%) in the US experience rape, physical violence and stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime.
Tragically, between 2017 and 2022 according to data from the nonprofit Gun Violence Archives U.S. parents or guardians have committed filicide, the killing of one’s child over 500 times every year. Also each year, 7,957 children and teens are shot in the United States. Among those 1,839 children and teens die from gun violence. Eighty to 90% of domestic violence victims abuse or neglect their children.
Femicide, the gender based killing of women is not just an issue facing low income countries. Data show that of all femicides in high income countries the US accounts for 70% of the cases. The US ranks 34th in intentional female homicides. More alarming is the number of women killed is rising from 1,691 women in 2014 to an alarming high of 2,997 in 2019. Nearly three women are killed every day in the US in domestic violence disputes.
The causes of domestic violence are complex. Why would a person physically and mentally harm someone they profess to love? Financial hardship and unemployment are significant contributors to domestic violence. A downturn in the economy is associated with increased calls to the National Domestic Violence Hotline. Historically power and control are at the core of domestic violence according to the United Nations office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Culturally men see women and children as property.
Other causes of horrific family violence are anger management issues, jealousy, low self-esteem, feeling inferior, cultural right or belief to control a partner, personality disorder, psychological disorder, learned behavior where domestic violence is accepted, alcohol and drugs causing the person’s to be unable to control their negative impulses. The causes of domestic violence reveal a strong link between child abuse and perpetrating abusive behavior later in adult life.
According to the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crimes domestic violence and sexual abuse violate a victim’s human rights to life, health, personal freedom and security, as well as their right not to be tortured or exposed to other inhuman, cruel or degrading treatment as guaranteed by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international laws.
The justice system across the United States does very little to prevent domestic violence. Laws across the country have been passed to make mandatory arrest of one or both parties in an attempt to protect family members. Persons who are convicted of domestic violence are fined, put on probation and in severe cases including murder sent to prison. Most offenders are fined around $250 for disorderly conduct or disturbing the peace with a maximum jail sentence of 15 days.
A hidden horror is police domestic violence. The National Center for Women reports at least 40% of police officer's families experience domestic violence. The brutality in police families is proportionately higher than in the general population.
Police officers convicted of domestic violence often are not punished. They are not fired, arrested or even referred for prosecution. This is a cultural attitude problem when police are the ones who respond to domestic violence calls. In addition, they make arrests for violations of court protective or restraining orders.
Restraining orders, protective orders and injunctions prevent an alleged abuser from making contact with the victim either temporarily or permanently. The orders are issued by the court when a victim makes a request. According to the US Department of Justice, there are between 2 to 3 million temporary restraining orders issued annually in the United States.
The orders are generally ex parte which means the order is granted without the accused being present or given the opportunity to defend themself. A National Institutes of Justice study shows that 69 percent of protection orders were violated, but only a fourth of the violators faced legal consequences. The penalties for violating a restraining order can be up to six months in jail and fines of up to $2500 depending on the state you live in.
Family law can drastically impact a family such as the removal of children from the household and adjudication of shared custody. Often Child Protective Services remove children from the home or restrict parents from having contact.
This traumatization of US children has reached epidemic proportions. According to a 10-year study by the American Public Health Association, an alarming estimate that 37.4% of all children experience a child protective services investigation by age 18 years. That results in 27.7 million children investigated based upon the current U.S. population census of approximately 75 million children under age eighteen.
Americans need to ask ourselves what's wrong with us? The violence in a country of opportunity and wealth is a social disease requiring innovative approaches. The lethal force policy bolsters the public to jump to violence for any reason as is evident in domestic violence. We can repeal police lethal force policy stopping police from killing for any reason. Our policing can mirror Norway’s policing- no police killings, no killings of police.
Lethal Force Laws encourage a culture of violence instead of the development of non-lethal and social approaches to conflict and law enforcement. Even as I write this article, the police killed one man for violating a restraining order and another during a domestic violence call because the police said the man charged at her with a marker in his hand and she thought he would run her over.
Domestic violence is where police reform can do the most to help our country counter the impact of cultural violence. The policing we have now does not work for our society today. There has been no reduction of crime, but an increase. FBI data shows serious crime such as murder has increased by 30% from 2019 to 2020.
What solutions can we bring to the social illness of cultural violence that domestic violence generates? We can work to change painful relationship dynamics through a multifaceted triage approach. Domestic violence is a platform for bullying, bitter divorces, poverty and a major factor in cultural violence. Starting with Relationship Management classes, public safety officers must be a part of domestic violence prevention In an alliance with social workers, behavior scientists and educational institutions.
Relationship Management classes are placed on police websites, court websites, state behavior science websites, local government websites, local churches and community websites. Police are required to periodically take relationship management classes which include anger management classes, financial management classes with followup and ongoing therapy.
Repeal lethal force laws, quantified immunity and stand your ground. These laws will not be needed in the police reform environment. When police respond to domestic violence they are to come in at full alert using nonlethal weapons such as flash bombs, mace, pepper spray, stun gun and/or foam projectiles. To protect themselves they are to use bullet proof insta-shields and bulletproof clothing.
In a scenario when police respond to a domestic violence call, they will not go inside the dwelling. They are to set up their insta-shield and wear bullet proof suits. Using a bullhorn asks the people to come outside with hands up one at a time. Get on the ground. They are both handcuffed. All parties including children if any are on scene and are to be taken to a holding area.
The adults are immediately given access to an online Relationship Management Class, after completion they are to meet with a court for their case to be adjudicated. In any penalty the judge includes an order for all parties to attend online and in person domestic violence classes for an indefinite period of time. Children if any in the home are provided with age appropriate classes to help them mentally and emotionally to prevent domestic violence from being carried into the next generation.
Massachusetts and 14 other states use GPS technology to prevent persons from violating restraining orders The tracking tool is 100 percent effective at stopping violators from showing up and threatening a former intimate partner. This is a prime example of how we can use technology to stop violence without the need for lethal force.
The mandatory relationship management classes are for an indefinite period of time is another example of how we can prevent domestic violence. It is the start of an immediate plan to transform policing into public safety. The FBI reports the US violent crime rate for 2019 was 1.3 million. We want to take that number and work to reduce crime by more than 70% and more. That is the outcome we must strive to achieve via police reform.
P.C.Pride formerly a Research Librarian/Media Specialist worked in Public, Special and University Libraries; worked as a reporter and Editorial Assistant for two newspapers; worked in urban city Economic Development as an Administrative Analyst, thereby evolving into a solution journalist who researches and writes on innovative and unorthodox approaches to addressing today’s conflicts and issues.
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