THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 30, 1994 TAG: 9406290102
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Medium
DATELINE: 940630 LENGTH:
It made us wonder where in the world policeman Mike Simpkins had been all the years that husbands and wives have been beating up on each other, even killing each other. If violence, domestic or otherwise, isn't a police matter, what is?
{REST} If men or women can't look to police for relief from debilitating beatings at the hands of their spouses, just what are they to do, take matters into their own hands and risk imprisonment for protecting themselves when driven to desperation?
On Saturday, after millions of Americans had been held rapt by the televised ``chase'' and arrest of O.J. Simpson for allegedly murdering his wife and a man, The Virginian-Pilot reported regional policies involving domestic violence. Court documents show that Simpson once beat Nicole Simpson so severely that she sought hospital care, and he allegedly had threatened her life for seeking a divorce.
\ In an incredible illustration, spokesman Mike Simpkins of the Suffolk Police Department talked of a case in which a woman cheats on her husband. The husband finds out, beats her up and messes up the house. She tells police only that she was beaten. ``Now that's not completely true because she didn't give them all the details,'' Simpkins said.
Some of us reasoned, so we're to excuse the husband's violence because she allegedly cheated on him? What if a wife doesn't fold the sheets just right? Is it OK for him to wrap one around her neck until she collapses?
Of course not. And after several calls and letters to him and top Suffolk officials, Simpkins told an editor, ``We do not accept that violence against any person is acceptable.''
For anyone to think otherwise, he said, would be a ``false impression.'' We certainly hope so.
\ Domestic violence is not solely the responsibility of any police department, but it is clearly a police matter. And after police have done their job of defusing violent situations and protecting citizens, it is a matter for the courts, the Department of Social Services, other public agencies and people who believe that a value change is in order so that abusers become accountable just as public pressure has made drunken drivers increasingly accountable.
Instead, corrective action now falls to the victims, whose dysfunction often traps them in abusive relationships and frustrates police who try to help.
Lest we get the notion that domestic violence is somehow less a problem in Suffolk and surrounding communities, area police agencies got more than 1,500 domestic-violence calls last year. The Genieve Shelter in Suffolk has had only one night in recent months with no women or children seeking relief from domestic violence.
Virginia is a pro-arrest state, which means police officers may arrest a suspect if they believe an assault happened. Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach also have pro-arrest policies, and Chesapeake is considering one.
Suffolk should immediately study those of neighboring cities and adopt a pro-arrest policy. The police chief must see to it.
by CNB