Domestic violence cases increase during holiday season

Coffee County Chief Deputy Ronnie Whitworth said regardless of the holiday, his office has seen an increase in domestic disputes.

Last year, for the entire year, the sheriff’s office handled 20 domestic dispute cases.

This year, during the first six months, Whitworth said the office has already handled 23 cases.

“It does spike during the holidays,” Whitworth said. “And so do suicide rates.”

Whitworth said many times the incidents revolve around economics.

“People get upset they don’t have the money to do what they want and tempers escalate,” he said. “People might be out of work and not able to provide the Christmas they want to for their children. It gets frustrating.”

A domestic violence situation, he said, is an officer’s nightmare, because anything can happen.

Daleville interim police chief James Gresham said it’s when people get physical that the situation becomes dangerous.

“Everybody is going to argue over money, especially when it’s this time of the year (with) Christmas coming,” said Gresham. “It’s OK to have disagreements, but when they start putting their hands on each other and hurting each other, that creates a bad situation for the husband, the wife, the children and law enforcement.”

Gresham said domestic violence could involve a number of things including harassment, assault, sexual assault or a combination of the three.

“If someone feels that they’re not safe in their home anymore, like the wife and children, they can get out of that house and they can be brought to the Daleville Police Department,” Gresham said. “We’d (then) contact The House of Ruth.”

The House of Ruth has locations in Dothan, Eufaula and Troy.

“They’ve got 24-hour access to safe shelters, individual counseling, support groups, advocacy services to help them and hospital and court accompaniment, so if they have to go to the hospital, The House of Ruth will go with them,” Gresham said.

The House of Ruth has a number of services available to women and children who are victims of domestic violence beyond just providing a safe place, including legal help and job training.

More information on these services can be found at www.houseofruthdothan.org.

“Our big thing is trying to get people out of a violent environment and get them into a safe place where they can relax, take a breath and see what’s available to them,” Gresham said. “Sometimes it doesn’t always work. Sometimes women will go right back in that domestic violence relationship. It’s not necessarily because they want to, it’s more because they have to.”

The local House of Ruth number is 334-793-2232 and the 800 number is 1-800-650-6522.

“There’s somebody always there to answer the phone, they have somebody on duty 24 hours a day at The House of Ruth. If they don›t feel comfortable with us coming to their house and they want to come here, they’re more than welcome. We’ll get them somewhere, get them into a room, talk to them and find out what›s going on,” Gresham said.