Beyond the Obvious: Investigating for Power and Control

Peace At Home, Peace In Our Community
The Bahamas Crisis Centere
September 18-22/2012
Common characteristics of violence
against women crimes
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Course of conduct vs. incident-based
Multiple concurrent crimes
Traumatic impact
Minimization by victim
Underreported
Serial nature of perpetrators
Commonly missed crimes in the
context of violence against women
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Stalking
Intimate partner sexual assault
Strangulation
Felony threats
Weapons violations
Kidnapping
Reasons co-occurring crimes are
missed by officers
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Lack of training
Lack of communication
Language barriers
Insufficient supervisor oversight
Personal beliefs and/or biases
Minimization
Impact of missing co-occurring
crimes
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Violence escalates/fatality
Victim and officer safety compromised
Liability issues
Loss of community trust
Recidivism/re-victimization
Victim hesitation to report further incidents
Victims of VAW:
• Not going to be a “perfect” victim
• Often delay reporting crime
• Experience trauma because of the violence
• Are often threatened, afraid & reluctant
• May feel powerless to stop the violence
• May have vulnerabilities that perpetrator will
exploit
Other?
Perpetrators of VAW:
• Plan their crimes
• Ensure there are no witnesses
• Are strategic and calculating
• Engage in “testing” to select victims
• Are often repeat offenders with a series of and/or
multiple victims
• Escalate violence over time
Other?
Given these realities about perpetrators
and victims of violence against women,
what strategies do we need to adopt for:
• Responding?
• Investigating?
• Preventing?
The FBI reports that between 75%
and 90% of all hostage takings in
the U.S. are related to domestic
violence situations.
 Reduces the likelihood of future harm
 A more effective management of police
power
 Decide in consultation with other agencies,
victims and other service providers
 Shared Understanding
 Police, Sheriffs, Prosecutors, Courts,
Probation/Parole, first responders, advocates, etc.

The Maryland Network against Domestic Violence has developed
the Maryland Domestic Violence Lethality Screen and Protocol for
First Responders, which offers practical methods of working with
victims to assess and act upon the danger they may face. The
MNADV established a statewide Lethality Assessment Committee
in Fall 2003, composed of law enforcement officers, a prosecutor,
an investigator, a parole and probation agent, domestic violence
advocates, and researchers who have done significant work in the
area of domestic violence. The committee developed a short
screen which is an application of the research of Dr. Jacquelyn
Campbell of The Johns Hopkins University, who created the
nationally respected domestic violence Danger Assessment, and is
a member of the MNADV team. The accompanying protocol
developed by the committee is the first of its kind, providing
guidance on what to do when someone is assessed to be in high
danger.
Delaware Domestic Violence Incident Report
lesat

The Ontario Domestic Assault Risk
Assessment (ODARA), a procedure to predict
future wife assaults, was developed by the
Ontario Provincial Police and the Ontario
Ministry of Health
 http://www.vawnet.org/
Six people who were suspected
to have been the primary
domestic violence perpetrator
were killed by responding
Wisconsin law enforcement
officers in 2010

Source: Ashland Current
Shooter lured officers with 911 call
October 14, 1999 – Pleasanton, Texas
Arlington Officer Jillian
Michelle Smith Killed in
Shooting
24-Year-Old Finished Police Training 2 Weeks Ago
Tuesday, 28 Dec 2010, 10:07 PM CST
ARLINGTON, Texas - A rookie police officer was among those killed Tuesday night
during a shooting at an Arlington apartment complex. Police confirmed Officer Jillian
Michelle Smith was alone and responding to a domestic assault call around 7:30 p.m.
at the Arbrook Park Apartments in the 3800 block of Mahonia Way.
Officer Smith shielded
the child and was fatally
shot
They said the suspect in the assault was not expected to be home and that Smith was
simply intending to take a report.
However, Arlington police representative Tiara Ellis Richard during a news
conference on Wednesday said Smith encountered an unexpected and violent
situation.
Richard said 39-year-old Barnes Samuel Nettles shot his 29-year-old girlfriend and
then tried to shoot her 11-year-old daughter. Smith shielded the child and was fatally
shot, Richard said. Nettles then killed himself, she said.
Read more: http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpps/news/122810-arlington-officer-diesin-shooting_11237179#ixzz1tjElMbe4
Two Oklahoma deputies shot and killed
12:09 PM CDT on Monday, July 27, 2009
SEMINOLE, Okla. — A man opened fire on two sheriff's deputies trying to serve a domestic abuse warrant Sunday in
Oklahoma, killing both officers and wounding a woman who was passing by, state investigators said.
Ezekial Holbert, 26 was being held on first-degree murder charges in the deaths of the two Seminole County deputies, said
State Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Jessica Brown.
One of the deputies died at the scene Sunday and the other died at a hospital in Oklahoma City. They were identified as 23year-old Robbie Chase Whitebird, who had been with the sheriff's office since April 2008; and 43-year-old Marvin
Williams, who was hired by the agency in 2002.
Brown said a bystander was hit in the arm by a stray bullet as she walked down the street. Her name and condition also
haven't been released.
The deputies were trying to serve an arrest warrant
issued earlier this year for domestic assault and
battery by strangulation
"As far as I know, she was totally unrelated to the case," Brown said.
The sheriff's office declined comment late Sunday, referring questions to the SBI. Brown said it wasn't clear whether
Holbert had an attorney or when he would appear in court.
Holbert's mother called the sheriff's office around 3 p.m. after finding her son in her house in Seminole. She said he wasn't
welcome.
When deputies knocked on the door, Holbert started shooting, Brown said. The deputies were trying to serve an arrest
warrant issued earlier this year for domestic assault and battery by strangulation, though it wasn't immediately clear Sunday
who Holbert was accused of assaulting.
Several law enforcement agencies responded to the shootings, evacuated the area and asked local businesses to shut down as
they searched for the shooting suspect.
By about 7 p.m., the Oklahoma Highway Patrol used a robot with an audio speaker to approach the house.
"Through a PA system on that robot, tactical units announced their presence and required the suspect to come out and
surrender," patrol Lt. George Brown told The Oklahoman newspaper. "The suspect did come out of the front of the
residence and did surrender without further incident."
Joan Eliel
Hope Card Administrator
Office of Victim Services
Department of Justice
2225 11th Avenue
P.O. Box 201410
Helena, MT 59620-1410
Phone: (406) 444- 5512
E-mail: HopeCard@mt.gov

Of petitioners with children under 18 years
old, the children witnessed violence an
average of 32 days in the 6 months before the
protective order was issued and 1 day in the 6
months after the protective order was issued.
TK Logan, Ph.D. – Civil Protective Orders – Improved Safety for Victims & Cost Effective for State -2011
full study @ http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/228350.pdf
Overall, protective orders saved one state at
least $85 million each year in costs that would
have been incurred if the protective order had
not stopped or reduced the violence and abuse.
Civil Protective Orders – Improved Safety for Victims & Cost Effective for State
-2011 TK Logan, Ph.D.
full study @
http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/228350.pdf
Assessing Threats
Pre-Incident Indicators?
 Does she/he believe the threat?
 Was it made in the presence of other people?
In writing? In a recorded phone conversation?
 Is it detailed and specific?
 Is the threatened act consistent with past behavior?
 Have there been “rehearsals” of the act that is being threatened?
 Does the threat extend to others (children, police, her new lover)?
 Does the threat involve murder, suicide or both?
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Threats of Homicide or Suicide

Fantasies of Homicide or Suicide

Weapons

“Ownership” of Victim

Obsessed with Victim or Family

Separation Violence - Stalking

Depression
Section One, Handout #6

Access to Victim or Family

Hostage-Taking
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Escalation of Batterer Risk
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Previous Contacts with Police

Drugs and Alcohol

Offenders “perception of betrayal by victim”

Offender exhibits significant changes
Section One, Handout #6
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Other danger signals
 Increased severity and frequency of abuse
 Strangulation of victim
 Forced sex
 Battering during pregnancy
 CRUELTY OF PETS
 Violence toward children
 Unemployment
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by Jordan Schrader, JSCHRADE@CITIZEN-TIMES.COM
published September 20, 2006 12:15 am
“When I attempted to leave he choked me twice”
SYLVA
Investigators on Tuesday cast a net from Pennsylvania
to Tennessee for the Jackson County man who they say
burst into a domestic violence shelter carrying a
shotgun and killed his wife.
John “Woody” Raymond Woodring, already sought by
law enforcement on domestic violence charges, shot his
estranged wife to death about 9 p.m. Monday, Sylva
police Chief Jeff Jamison said.
Police consider Woodring, 35, armed and dangerous.
They believe he fled the emergency shelter in a blue
Honda Civic stolen from the neighborhood of his
Kitchens Branch Road home.
Jamison said authorities have tracked down Woodring’s
connections in Western North Carolina, including two
ex-wives, and in two other states.
“Somebody’s got to see him somewhere, sometime,”
REACH of Jackson County Executive Director Jean
Bockstahler said hopefully.
Impressing Bockstahler and other caretakers with her
determination not to live in fear, Bonnie Woodring, 48,
came to REACH’s shelter in Sylva seeking sanctuary
for herself and her 13-year-old son from a previous
marriage.
She found a helping hand, but not one that could shield
her from her husband’s wrath, police said.
Authorities said her son is safe with family. He was not
in the shelter’s kitchen when his mother was gunned
down there.
“This distress caused me to loose my position at
work and had to transfer to another department.
He also threatens to kill me if I ever left him.”

Who is dominant?
Who is creating the fear?
Who is in fear?
Who is more significant aggressor?
Who needs protection?

It is not who started it.
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Stalking,
Harassment,
Assault, Strangulation
Theft
Fraud
Forgery
Vandalism,
Animal Abuse,
Destroying
Property
USING
USING
COERCION INTIMIDATION
AND
THREATS
USING
ECONOMIC
ABUSE
Simple
Assault
USING
EMOTIONAL
ABUSE
POWER
AND
CONTROL
USING
USING MALE
PRIVILEGE
Sex
Assault
USING
CHILDREN
Kidnapping,
Child Neglect
& Abuse
ISOLATION
False
Imprisonment,
MINIMIZING
DENYING
AND BLAMING
Filing false reports,
Protective Order
Violation
Kidnapping,
Custodial
Interference
Wynn Consulting 2007

The Criminal Justice System is by design and necessity,
incident focused
 What is the intent of the offender?
 What is the meaning of the act to the victim?
 What is the effect of the violence on the victim?
 What is the context of any given act of violence?
 Consider the particulars, how much violence, coercion
or intimidation accompanying the violence
Minimizing
by the Victim
Minimizing
by the Offender
Minimizing
by the Officer
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Boyfriend and girlfriend returned home from a night out on
the town.
He confesses to her that he has had sex with another
woman.
She slapped him.
He assaulted her.
He drags her across the floor and out onto the deck that
caused the wound on the base of her spine.
He kicks her and hits her.
He strangles her until his cousin pulls him off of her.
A deputy arrives and does not see any marks on either
party.
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He does not admit to any wrong doing during this
incident.
She admits to the deputy that she had slapped him.
She is arrested based on her confession.
The following pictures were taken at the jail ten
hours after the arrest.
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Her parents took her from the jail to the hospital for
treatment of her injuries.
She was diagnosed with a broken
 Rib
 Hyoid bone
Charges against her were dismissed.
He was charged with aggravated assault.
USING
USING COERCION
INTIMIDATION
AND THREATS
Will the offender use
power and control
against the responding
officer?
USING
ECONOMIC
ABUSE
POWER
AND
CONTROL
USING MALE
PRIVILEGE
USING
CHILDREN
USING
EMOTIONAL
ABUSE
USING
ISOLATION
MINIMIZING
DENYING
AND BLAMING
Intimidation……
 Following you from room to room
 Aggressive stance
 Read the body language – they will read
yours
Taz
9/6/2012
Isolation……
 Wont let the officer in the residence
 Children told to hide or leave the home
 “ My wife is in the shower”
9/6/2012
Economic abuse…..
 “ I can’t trust her with the money”
 Victim has no knowledge of family money
matters
 “ I’m the bread winner…..”
9/6/2012
Using Male Privilege…..
 “ I wear the pants in my family”

9/6/2012
Ownership language about the spouse or
children
Threats…..
“ You are violating
my rights.. Do you
have a warrant”
 “I’ll sue”
 “I’ll have your badge”
“I’m the taxpayer”
9/6/2012
Minimizing - Denying - Blaming…..
 “ It’s not that bad.. She bruises easily”
 “She/he is crazy”
 “It’s all in his/her head”
 “Nothing happen”
 Not taking responsibility
 “ I’m very sorry we bother you officer”
9/6/2012
Using the Children…
 “The kids will agree with me”
 Dragging the children into the arrest or
court

9/6/2012
Sending the children away or into hiding
Medical Information for Strangulation
Obstruction of:
Carotid artery: Most common, 11 lbs of pressure
for 10 seconds, unconsciousness, but regained
in 10 seconds if pressure released
Jugular vain: Second most common, 4.4 lbs of
pressure completely obstructs
Tracheal: 33 lbs of pressure, fracture of tracheal,
and death
Brain death occurs if strangulation persists for 4
to 5 minutes
Section Four, Handout #19
58
Symptoms and Signs of Strangulation
Outward trauma may not be visible
 Neck pain, sore throat
 Scratch marks, tiny red spots, red linear marks
or bruising
 Hoarseness, loss of voice
 Difficulty swallowing
 Light headed or head rush
 Fainting or unconsciousness
Symptoms and Signs of Strangulation
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Nausea or vomiting
Loss of bodily function
Red eyes
Rope or cord burns
Neck swelling
Miscarriage
Officers should suggest medical treatment
for victims
www.markwynn.com
markwynn@edge.net