Domestic violence deaths increase in Beaufort, while services decrease after the money goes to Pitt and Dare | Eastern North Carolina Now

«    Beaufort County was one of seven counties in the state last year that experienced a higher than average increase in domestic-violence fatalities. While the number of deaths increased, fueled by the increases in Beaufort and the other seven counties from 99 in 2009 to 107 in 2010, the number of victims of domestic violence who received help from state-funded centers declined drastically in Beaufort.

    The annual report required by law was released Monday by the N. C. Department of Justice. You can review the news release by clicking here.

    You can download the actual report by clicking here.

     Here's our interpretation of the numbers: Domestic violence is worse in Beaufort County than it was before the local domestic-violence center, Options to Domestic Violence, Inc. was closed by the state.

    In 2009 the State moved the funding that had been used to operate a shelter and domestic-violence center in Washington to two adjoining centers, one in Greenville and the other in Dare County. Since then the number of victims receiving services has declined significantly.

    For example, according to statistics posted on the N. C. Department of Administration Web site, (http://www.nccfwdvc.com/documents/stats/2009-2010CountyStatistics.xls) the number of "Displaced homemakers" (a euphemism for victims with no place to stay) in 2008 in Beaufort County was 1086. After Options was closed, the number fell to 470 in both Pitt and Beaufort counties. In 2008 Pitt County had 770 while Beaufort served 1086.

    In 2008 Beaufort had 12 sexual assault cases while Pitt had 76. After Options closed the number was 76. Pitt did not record how many of those victims were from Beaufort, if any at all.

    In 2008 the number of victims who were provided shelter services while Options was open was 205. The shelter was full for 30 days in 2008 but all victims were accommodated without referral to other shelters. That same year, Pitt provided 117 victims with shelter services while the Pitt shelter was full for 30 days and 14 victims were sent elsewhere. Combined, Pitt and Beaufort served 322 victims in 2008, the last year Options was open.

    After Options closed the number of victims provided shelter services declined from 322 to 177.

    Whether the shift of services from Beaufort to Pitt caused the decline in the number of victims who received services is open to speculation. While it might be argued that there was simply less domestic violence in 2010, the statewide data would indicate otherwise. As can be seen on page 6 of the DOJ Annual Report, Beaufort suffered three fatalities from domestic violence in 2010 but none in 2008 or 2009. Two of the deaths were reported by the Washington Police Department while the other was reported by Beaufort County Sheriff's Department.

    Rep. Bill Cook from Beaufort has introduced House Bill 757 into the Legislature in an attempt to not only secure the return of a shelter to Beaufort County but to reform the entire state domestic-violence system. He proposes to get counties more control over how services are delivered with less control by bureaucrats in Raleigh. The bill is currently pending before the House Appropriations committee.

    Cook told The Beaufort Observer: "Beaufort needs a domestic-violence center in the county. The decline in the statistics of the number of victims, I believe, reflects the lack of service, not that domestic violence has decreased in Beaufort County. The numbers mean to me that we have many victims who are not getting the help they need to provide a safe place for them when they need it. I am hopeful the General Assembly will pass H 757 and that will give us the framework to begin re-establishing services in Beaufort County."

    Commentary

    Make of these facts what you will: Options served five counties before it was closed in 2009: Beaufort, Martin, Washington, Hyde and Tyrrell. When Options was closed, the money that had gone to Options was divided two ways: 60% of it went to Pitt and 40% went to Dare. At the time, Dare was represented by Sen. Marc Basnight of Dare County. Pitt was represented by Rep. Marian McLawhorn who just so happens to have been the co-chair of the Joint Domestic Violence Committee in the Legislature at the time the money was taken away from Beaufort and given to Pitt. Since the Republicans took control of the Legislature she no longer serves as chair of that committee.

    Is "politics" playing with people's lives? You decide.