Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 3, 1995 TAG: 9510030060
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ELISSA MILENKY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
Now that the Floyd County resident is putting her life back together, she wonders if things would have been different if police had been required to arrest her abuser.
"I think that would be very important," Dickson said of a mandatory arrest policy.
Police "don't really take the situation seriously," she added.
Dickson was one of more than 20 people who spoke Friday at a quarterly meeting of the Commission on Family Violence Prevention, established by the General Assembly in 1994.
The mandatory arrest policy in domestic abuse cases took center stage at the commission's meeting at Radford University. A subcommittee chaired by Attorney General Jim Gilmore endorsed the policy, but the full commission decided to table discussion and a vote until its Jan. 5 meeting in Richmond.
"This is an opportunity to [make] a very strong statement on behalf of Virginia women," Gilmore said.
The statewide policy would require police officers to arrest and charge the "primary physical aggressor" in a domestic violence case if there is probable cause a crime has been committed.
Aggressor would be identified by various factors, including previous complaints of domestic violence, the injuries of the people involved, whether a person used self-defense and the likelihood of future injuries, Gilmore said. Officers would go through eight hours of training to learn to identify aggressors.
The arrest policy would protect victims of domestic violence by taking the pressure off those too afraid to press charges against their abuser, Gilmore said. It also would provide consistency among law enforcement agencies throughout the state, he added.
Some localities, such as Virginia Beach and Henrico County, have a pro-arrest policy toward domestic violence, though officers are not required to make arrests, said Ruth Micklem of Virginians Against Domestic Violence.
Micklem, who attended Friday's meeting, had a mixed opinion on the mandatory arrest policy. She worries about the victim's safety, a lack of discretion given to police officers and the availability of services to support the abused.
The victim, Micklem said, cannot lose all control of the situation.
"What she may know is, last time he was arrested, he came home and raped me," she said.
Instead, Micklem favors a pro-arrest policy, which would give police officers discretion while sending a strong message to law enforcement and abusers.
Several social service providers who attended the meeting stressed that the mandatory arrest policy cannot be viewed alone. More arrests will produce an increased caseload in the courts, which means that a strong judicial system is required for the policy to work, said Ellen Brown, director of human resources for the Community Services Administration.
"We can't look at one intervention [as] a solution," she said. "It all has to work hand in hand," she said.
The Commission on Family Violence Prevention is examining a broad spectrum of changes, including strengthening protective orders and improving community education on domestic violence. The 25-member commission meets four times a year in various parts of the state.
Also included in the meeting format are public hearings, which give women like Dickson an opportunity to tell the commission about their struggles - and sometimes their recoveries.
"We're gonna make it," Dickson said with a shake of her head as she waited to speak.
Some information for this story came from the Associated Press.
by CNB