Domestic Violence: A Community Problem

After reading the investigation report from the Oregon City Police Department regarding the murder of Officer Robert Libke, not only do I feel so sad for his family and his colleagues, but I’m reminded of how domestic violence is a community problem – not a private matter. Officers Libke, Ellis and Turpin were responding to a house fire at which a man was armed with a gun.  What they did not know was that the armed man had a history of domestic violence and had that morning had a violent confrontation with his domestic partner.

While only roughly 14% of police officers are killed responding to domestic violence calls, in reality that number could be much higher since, as in the case of Officer Libke, law enforcement may be responding to a call that is not identified as a domestic assault or disturbance. This fact makes domestic violence one of the most dangerous situations for law enforcement officers.

The suspect in this case was not only terrorizing his partner, he was terrorizing his whole neighborhood. He burned down his house, and murdered a police officer.

But here’s the thing, domestic violence is going to keep taking lives until our communities no longer tolerate it. This means that it’s not up to the victim to end domestic violence, it’s up to all of us. It means that we can and should have a more coordinated response from the entire community to keep victims and survivors safe and hold abusers accountable.

I always refer to the No More campaign’s tagline: Together we can end domestic violence.