Domestic Violence

It might be only a few hundred dollars to the thief who broke into a Towson church, but to victims of domestic violence, the stolen money was meant to offer a fresh start.Officials of the Active Coalition for Transitional Services (ACTS) said someone broke into a space they use at the First Lutheran Church of Towson and stole a water cooler jug containing about $300 in change.The organization provides services for survivors of domestic violence and their children, and the money was part of a fund-raiser for the private, nonprofit group.

Police officers and prosecutors in 32 jurisdictions across the state will have another weapon in the battle against domestic violence, courtesy of federal funding: instant photographs to document the damage done by an abuser.Police, prosecutors and Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend gathered yesterday at Maryland State Police headquarters in Pikesville to announce the distribution of 400 Polaroid Spectra cameras and film to law enforcement. The announcement was followed by a training session for about two dozen officers who will use the $250 cameras when they respond to domestic-violence calls.

Los Angels -- WHAT LOVE Canal did for toxic waste, what Anita Hill did for sexual harassment and what Magic Johnson did for AIDS, the O.J. Simpson saga is on the verge of doing for domestic violence. Contrary to conventional wisdom, this is not a good thing.Special-interest advocates argue that what each of those high-profile cases of victimization did was "raise awareness" about sensitive issues. True enough. But any real gains that came from heightened public attention to those problems have been erased by a destructive tornado of expansive government intervention, irresponsible public policy, profligate spending and widespread miseducation.

As they sort through nearly two dozen domestic-violence initiatives this year, Maryland lawmakers are focusing on improvements to protective orders that they hope would make abuse victims safer. Ideas include adding another year if the subject of a protective order commits a new offense soon after the expiration of the first order and adding the alleged victim's pets to the stay-away provision. Cynthia M. Lifson, legislative counsel for the Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence, said she believes many of the domestic-violence bills have the "votes and momentum" to make it out of a legislative committee that has batted down similar legislation in years past.

A group of senators has added a twist to Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposal to take guns from the subjects of protective orders, voting to make it easier for domestic violence victims to get guns of their own. By a 6-5 decision, the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee amended a bill last week that would require a judge to confiscate firearms when granting a final protective order. They changed the legislation to include a provision that the judge help speed a petitioner's application for a permit to carry a weapon.

The Carroll County office of Family and Children's Services of Central Maryland has officially teamed up with all the county's law enforcement agencies - the state police, the municipal departments and the sheriff's office - to match crisis workers with police officers to respond to domestic violence incidents through the First Step program. The expanded partnership will help Family and Children's Services bring its programs to more victims and publicize the county's more than two-year-old protective shelter, said Connie Sgarlata, director of the non-profit agency's Westminster office.

Parking remedies need support Kudos to Annapolis City Council member Dick Israel for championing constructive measures to temper residential parking problems in the inner West Street corridor. If only Mayor Ellen O. Moyer and the Planning Department supported his efforts. Instead, they blindly approve projects such as the capital mixed-use development that rely upon antiquated, insufficient parking space requirements that worsen congestion around our home. The city fought us tooth and nail for years over a proposed 8-foot by 16-foot brick parking pad next to our residence.

In the messy world of domestic violence cases, often complicated by a lover's willingness to forgive, this one had a promising twist for prosecutors: Though the woman refused to testify against her boyfriend, a police officer said she had witnessed the attack in a Laurel gas station parking lot. But Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Paul Harris, in a decision that has victims' rights advocates crying foul, acquitted the man charged with second-degree assault...

It used to be that police officers responding to the scene of a domestic violence call would gauge the volatility of a situation using little more than intuition and a dash of hope. They'd advise victims to get help and trust that they would reach out to counselors. But a growing number of police agencies across Maryland have been connecting victims with support groups and counselors on the spot - while emotions are still raw and before the attacks turn deadly - using a quick checklist of research-based indicators of risk.

An anxious Susan Grimm went to court yesterday and got her wish -- that her former boyfriend would go to prison for life for stabbing her 13 times, despite a judge's order that he stay away from her.Grimm told Baltimore County Circuit Judge J. William Hinkel that Robert B. Faidley's attack last year, which sent her to Maryland Shock Trauma Center for two weeks, has "changed my life." She said she is on medication for "nightmares" and that her daughter is in counseling."It's hard to raise a 7-year-old when she's scared," she told Hinkel before he sentenced Faidley to life in prison.

It used to be that officers wrote off domestic killings as a given - unfortunate and often brutal crimes that added numbers to the city's death tally but couldn't be prevented in the traditional way, such as with more police, neighborhood sweeps and arrests. And there wasn't much of a public outcry. People felt bad and were angry, but they didn't feel less safe because the man up the street killed his wife in an upstairs bedroom. A new team of Baltimore police and prosecutors is turning those antiquated theories around.

A 24-year-old Baltimore man was sentenced to 15 years in prison Monday for biting off a portion of his former girlfriend's nose, a disturbingly intimate form of violence that prosecutors say is surprisingly prevalent in family violence cases. Charles Bowers pleaded guilty to first- and second-degree assault last month in the 2008 incident, which followed an argument over house keys. Judge Alfred Nance recommended that Bowers be allowed to serve his sentence at Patuxent Institution, a correctional mental health facility in Jessup, and that the young man, who said he grew up in an abusive home, be referred for psychiatric evaluation and treatment.

Last month, Theodore Blandford broke into the Lothian home of his estranged wife, Sheena Blandford, and shot her to death, along with her sister, Cheryl Timmons. Ms. Blandford knew she was in danger; two weeks earlier she had requested a protective order from the courts after her husband threatened to kill her by running over her with his truck and bashing her with a hammer. Ms. Blandford's death was only one of many well-publicized incidents this year that threw a bright spotlight on the problem of domestic violence in Maryland - a problem made more acute by the economic downturn, which has exacerbated the turmoil in troubled families and put thousands more women at greater risk of serious injury or death at the hands of abusive partners.

Police have identified a man who they say wounded two city officers in a shootout Saturday as Shawn Sinclair, a 34-year-old West Baltimore resident with a history of domestic assault accusations. Sinclair, who was also injured in the shootout, remained hospitalized Sunday but was expected to be charged with attempted murder and domestic violence-related counts, said Baltimore police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. The shooting happened before noon Saturday in the 2400 block of Harlem Avenue, as police tried to arrest Sinclair on charges that he assaulted two women he knows earlier that day. Police on Sunday also identified the wounded officers.

Police recently concluded that former Baltimore Ravens star Steve McNair was shot dead in his sleep by girlfriend Sahel Kazemi in a murder-suicide. Yet while there are more than 10,000 media entries on Google News for "Steve McNair," only a few of them mention the phrase "domestic violence." Violence by women against their male partners is often ignored or not recognized as domestic violence. Law enforcement, the judicial system, the media and the domestic violence establishment are still stuck in the outdated "man as perpetrator/woman as victim" conception of such violence.

Demaune Millard, the chief of staff to Mayor Sheila Dixon who is the subject of two domestic violence complaints from a fellow city employee, helped extricate his boss from a tricky situation Thursday when he took what city officials say was a planned leave of absence. Ms. Dixon insisted when news first broke about the accusations - and counter-charges filed by Mr. Millard - that she has "zero tolerance" for domestic abuse and is "deeply concerned about any accusations about domestic violence."

With Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon maintaining a public hands-off stance for now, some are waiting to see how she handles assault charges that have been filed by two city officials who previously were romantically involved. Beyond reiterating Wednesday that she has "a no-tolerance level for domestic violence," Dixon declined to comment further on the accusations that Elizabeth C. Smith, a liquor board commissioner, and Demaune Millard, her chief of staff, have made against each other. "This is a private matter - I want to give them that privacy to move through that process as we move forward," Dixon said.

As a researcher of domestic abuse against women in the U.S. and globally, I wasn't surprised when a survey last week linked the economic downturn to an upswing in domestic violence. I've seen time and again the brutal connection between financial stress and violence against women. Financial stress does not cause domestic violence, but can make a bad situation worse. And the new report highlights the ongoing, and largely ignored, problem of domestic abuse, a major public health problem for women everywhere.

A city police commander has been reinstated for active duty after being cleared of wrongdoing in a probe into text messages he exchanged with a community activist who was being sought on a warrant and later allegedly stabbed his wife to death. Dep. Maj. Dan A. Lioi was suspended with pay March 14 after the text messages were uncovered by detectives investigating the Nov. 17 killing of Veronica Williams. Sources with knowledge of the situation told The Baltimore Sun at the time that some messages sent to 33-year-old Cleaven Lawrence Williams Jr. raised concerns that not all efforts had been made to serve the outstanding warrant.

We've said it before and we'll say it again: Firearms and domestic violence don't mix. So why is the Maryland Senate trying to wreck a bill intended to protect victims of abuse by tacking on an amendment that would keep guns on the table in domestic violence cases? This is cynical politics at its worst. The bill, sponsored by Gov. Martin O'Malley, would require judges to confiscate firearms from partners who are under final restraining orders as a result of domestic violence. The rationale is obvious: Given the explosive nature of abusive relationships, the presence of any firearm can quickly turn deadly.