Barron (WQOW)-
One in four women will experience domestic violence in their lifetime and one
in thirteen men. These statistics are even more sobering when we consider that domestic
violence often goes unreported.
"It's awful difficult in a
domestic situation to report a crime against someone that you love," says
Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald, Barron County Sheriff's Department.
This October area law enforcement
hope to start an important conversation. It is domestic violence awareness
month.
Studies have shown many victims stay
in the shadows, over 50 percent never seek help.
"That's the hardest thing to do
sometimes, report it to law enforcement but our officers that come to your
house are there to help you there not to just make an arrest and go about our
way. We want to make sure that you get the services that you need and you feel
safe in your home," says Sheriff Fitzgerald.
In 2011, Barron County
domestic abuse victim advocates handled close to 370 cases of domestic
violence.
"That's over one a day in Barron County
alone, that's too many, one is too many," says Sheriff Fitzgerald.
According to Sheriff Fitzgerald there
have been more serious cases of domestic violence in recent years.
"We had an attempted homicide
case this year in Barron
County that our
department handled and that stemmed from a domestic abuse incident," says
Sheriff Fitzgerald.
"On average it takes a victim
about eight times of attempting to leave before they finally can leave," says
Kristy Moran, Baron
County domestic abuse
advocate.
Some never leave. In the U.S. three women die each day as a
result of domestic abuse. Often times children are the silent
victims.
"The children are hearing this,
they're seeing this, they're witnessing it. Be it if it's physical, emotional,
verbal abuse, these little eyes are watching mom and dad and how to interact in
a relationship and common theme is that children who are living this life
style, females it shows that little girls who see mom being abused grow up and
are more likely to be victims as adults. Little boys who are witnessing dads be
the abuser are more likely to grow up and be abusers themselves," says Moran. "We
need to stop domestic abuse and get the word out there that it's never ok be it
verbal, physical, emotional abuse. Abuse is abuse and it absolutely needs to
stop."
Studies show economic stressors can
have an effect on the number of domestic violence cases. In Wisconsin
40 people died last year because of domestic abuse.
If you or
someone you know needs help there is a free, 24-hour hotline you can call,
1-800-799-7233.
