Daraine Luton, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

DESPITE A decline in domestic disputes, police remain concerned that too many persons are dying through family conflict.

According to police statistics, there have been over 35,000 cases of wounding and more than 103,000 cases of assault as a result of domestic violence between 1994 and 2004.

"We are bleeding because we are not healing and we are not learning," says Dr. Grace Kelly, head of the behavioural science unit at the Northern Caribbean University (NCU).

Some 2,862 persons have been killed in domestic disputes between 1994 and 2004.

The trend for the period indicates that annually, an average of 286 people died in domestic disputes. Police statistics show a sharp decline in the number of domestic murders, with the figures dipping from 351 victims in 2004 to 49 in 2005.

Redefinition

Of note, however, is that the police redefined domestic murder in 2005. Prior to last year, cases in which persons who knew each other and had disputes which resulted in death were considered domestic murders. The new definition limits domestic homicide to persons who are related by blood, marriage or adoption.

While the redefinition has not affected other categories of domestic violence, the statistics indicate a considerable drop in the number of domestic crimes reported between 2004 and 2005.

In 2004, the figure stood at 9,032. This dipped to 8,117 in 2005.

Some police personnel, including Sergeant Winnifred Brown, sub-officer in charge of the Police Mediation Unit (PMU), believes the numbers are still too high.

"The figures need to go down and I am hoping to see them trending down soon," Sgt. Brown said.

FALSE IMPRESSION

Colonel Trevor MacMillan, former Commissioner of Police, started the PMU in 1994. He believes the police statistics are meaningless and should not be used as an indication that there is a drop in domestic violence.

"I am not impressed (with the strides the police have made in tacking domestic violence). If the changed definition was used for domestic murders in previous years, I don't suppose there would be any real change," he told The Sunday Gleaner.

Col. Macmillan said that the police figures - which show a decrease in the number of domestic assaults (from 12,790 in 1994 to 4,055 in 2005) - give a false impression that the police are winning the fight against domestic violence.

"The figures give the impression that things are getting better but I don't buy that. I believe that a lot of crimes are being unreported, particularly assault," he said.

While assault figures are down, police statistics show that confrontations between acquain-tances, have increased.

A total of 1,065 cases of domestic-related wounding were recorded in 1994. By the year 2000, it had reached 5,636 per year. Since then, it has gone down somewhat, peaking at the 4,000 mark each year since.

There were 4,013 cases reported in 2005. Meanwhile, the 49 domestic murders recorded by police in 2005 represents three per cent of the 1,674 murders recorded.

Already this year, 42 deaths, or four per cent of murders, have been categorised as domestic.

Among them is Trevor Berbick, the former world heavyweight boxing champion who was killed on October 28 in Portland. His 20-year-old nephew Harold Berbick and 18-year-old Kenrick Gordon, have been charged with his murder.

"It is sad to say but we are more vulnerable to persons we know than strangers," says Donna Parchment, CEO of the Dispute Resolution Foundation. "It is a tragic piece of information but it is true."

Last month, Dr. Peter Phillips, Minister of National Security, told a police mediation conference at the Medallion Hall hotel that "Issues of mediation and social intervention are among the most urgent tasks that confront the society. As a society, we have lost the capacity as a people to resolve disputes peacefully."

Alternatives

Col. MacMillan, now an Opposition Senator, stressed that until the police gain the confidence of the public, their battle against domestic crime will continue.

"One has to hope that they are making strides but the police will not make major strides until the people have confidence and trust in them," he said.

Ms. Parchment believes that even if people do not approach the police to settle a potential dispute, there are other solutions. She pointed to the Church and professional counsellors as alternatives.

Dr. Kelly agrees: "If we do not take time out to do this, the country will continue to bleed," she said.