Fighting Domestic Violence

At least 500 law enforcement officers and social workers gather in Choctaw this week to discuss domestic violence prevention

Mississippi ranks in the top 5 in domestic violence cases nationwide. MPB's Lawayne Childrey reports the impact extends far beyond the perpetrator and their intended victim.

Experts say cases of domestic violence are on the rise in Mississippi.

“I have walked into situations where I have feared for my life.”

It's one aspect of the job that Lowndes County Sheriff, Mark Milley is becoming more familiar with especially when it comes to family situations.

“They may all of a sudden turn against the officer because you’re taking the daddy away, you’re taking the husband away. And all of a sudden you’ll have one officer up against four or five people possibly a whole family. And it just creates a situation for the officer that could put them and a lot of people in a lot of danger.”

Attorney General Jim Hood has gathered law enforcement, social workers, and first responders for training on how to diffuse domestic violence incidents.

“When the officer comes in to arrest someone they get attacked from both sides. So you know the officer has to be a quick study on analyzing who the initial aggressor is in those situations because we all know that these escalate into death. And a lot of murders that I’ve had to try started as domestic violence.”

There are no winners. But according to Sandy Middleton with the center for violence prevention in Rankin County, the real losers are the children.

“They actually live in a war zone. They watch their parents fight emotionally and physically day after day after day. Then what happens is those children grow up and if there’s not an intervention and there’s not a reeducation they grow up and do the same things in their homes.”

Statistics show that more than half of law enforcement calls are domestic in nature. For MPB news, I'm Lawayne Childrey.