Madison Police Chief Noble Wray unveiled plans to tackle domestic abuse Wednesday after newly released crime statistics revealed an increase in violent crime in Madison.
The FBI compiled the data, called a Uniform Crime Report, using reported crimes throughout Madison in 2008. Compared to UCR statistics from 2007, overall crime in the city went down 1.9 percent, but violent crime increased about six percent, according to the data.
Violent crime is defined as murder, forcible rape, aggravated assault and robbery. Madison saw a 42 percent increase in citywide homicides, but that figure only represents a difference of seven homicides in 2007 to 10 in 2008.
In Madison, it doesn't take much to get an increase in homicides,"" Wray said. ""We're fortunate to have very few, and we'd like to keep it that way.""
In looking at data trends, police are zoning in on the aggravated assault category of violent crime, which rose about 13 percent from 2007 to 2008. For the first time, the latest batch of statistics includes a breakdown of the aggravated assaults that are related to domestic violence. According to Wray, 40 percent of aggravated assaults and 50 percent of homicides in 2008 were related to domestic violence.
Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard said prosecutors handle an average of 3,000 domestic violence cases per year, but the problem often goes unnoticed by neighbors, police and the legal system when incidents are not reported. According to Kelly Wagner of Domestic Abuse Intervention Services, only one-fourth of domestic-violence incidents are reported to law-enforcement officials nationally.
""We can't let that become the background noise in the community,"" Blanchard said.
In Madison, Wagner said she is seeing an increase in the number of domestic-abuse victims and the severity of their injuries - a disturbing trend that could be linked to the nation's slumping economy.
""A recent study examining data from the National Survey of Families and Households found that employment instability and financial strain increase the likelihood of domestic violence,"" Wagner said.
Looking ahead in 2009, Wray said the police department will dig deeper into the domestic-violence issue by using incident-based reporting to better understand the nature of crimes occurring in the community. He also hopes to start a community discussion with police, citizens and advocates to raise awareness about the problem and work toward a solution.
Anyone involved in a domestic-violence situation is encouraged to call the DAIS Help Line at (608) 251-4445.
