Telling Amy's Story Analysis

This week we again were looking at the issue of IPV, and it included watching a video on Amy Homes McGee and her husband Vince. This film, Telling Amy’s Story allowed a police detective to look at the events leading up the Amy’s death; this dissection of Amy and Vince’s relationship is helpful for other law enforcement officers and community workers to see. I thought that watching the discussion panel after the film was particularly interesting. The four women involved came from different areas of IPV protection. Of the comment the panel had I thought that the police detective’s was the most interesting. She admitted that law enforcement might not be the best first contact for a victim of IPV. Her reasoning was once that law enforcement is contacted about a domestic abuse situation they are required to follow specific steps and these steps could in fact make the situation worse for the victim. Instead she recommended that the victim instead contact an advocate who could help the woman make a plan and if the advocate felt that advice was needed from the police they could be contacted without the advocate giving the name of the victim. This allows the victim to get the advice without being put in the precarious situation of allowing the abuser to know what is going on.
I took the time to look at the linked site
The article said that of participants in a rehabilitation program, 40% to 50% of men and woman said they were in a violent domestic situation. (Temple, Stuart and O’Farrel, It seems to me with numbers this high, that all drug and alcohol rehabilitation models should include IPV information and training. The participants should be educated to the signs of abuse and what they can do if they find themselves in a situation that is not safe. These programs have the perfect opportunity to help this segment of the