OC Police Records 33% Drop In Domestic Assault Cases; Specific Unit Assists Victims

OCEAN CITY — The release on Monday of the video illustrating the severity of the attack by former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice on his then-girlfriend cast serious attention on domestic violence around the country including the resort area, which sees its fair share of similar incidents each summer.

On Monday, TMZ released the video of Rice knocking out his then fiancé and now wife Janay in an Atlantic City elevator during an altercation allegedly fueled by alcohol consumption. The release sent shock waves across the country and ultimately led to the star player’s release from the team and an indefinite suspension by the NFL. It has also triggered an investigation into who knew what and when and the dominoes were still falling as of late Thursday.

Perhaps most importantly, the release of the video and the subsequent repercussions cast a renewed and less than flattering light on the growing problem of domestic violence. It’s a problem that has been around for as long as there have been men and women and crosses socio-economic, racial and gender lines. It occurs every day in small rural towns and big cities and often in resort areas such as Ocean City, where vacationers plied with alcohol often strike out at loved ones.

Domestic violence provides challenges for law enforcement officials often caught in the middle of verbal and physical altercations between spouses and couples, who sometimes turn on the officers attempting to restore peace and make the appropriate arrests. It can be even more challenging for prosecutors after the dust has settled and the raw nerves exposed during the incidents have been healed. Victims often refuse to testify against their attackers months after a domestic violence incident.

Like most resort areas, Ocean City sees more than its fair share of domestic incidents each year, although statistically, the number of reported incidents appears to be on the decline. For example, in 2014 thus far, there have been 143 cases of domestic assault investigated, a 33-percent drop from the same time last year when there were 212 reported incidents. The end-of-year total for 2013 came in at 274. In 2012, there were 252 reported domestic assault incidents by mid-September and the year-end total came in at 327.

According to OCPD spokesperson Lindsay O’Neal, the figures most often represent incidents involving husbands and wives and boyfriends and girlfriends, but include physical attacks between any two people who are cohabitating. Most are not publicized, but a handful of particularly egregious incidents have been reported.

For example, on July 28, a Laurel, Del. man was arrested on first-degree assault and other charges after allegedly striking his ex-girlfriend with a wine bottle while the two were riding in a car on Coastal Highway. The alleged attack left the victim dazed and in and out of consciousness on the highway’s median. The victim was taken to AGH where she was later interviewed by Ocean City Police.

On July 18, a West Ocean City woman was arrested and charged with first-degree assault for allegedly stabbing a man with a knife during a domestic dispute at a West Ocean City motel. Around 11:40 p.m., Maryland State Police troopers responded to the Sea Isle Motel in West Ocean City for a reported domestic incident. The investigation revealed Strause allegedly stabbed the victim with a knife during the domestic altercation.

On June 30, an Upper Marlboro man was arrested on first-degree assault charges after allegedly choking and trying to suffocate his wife during a domestic dispute at a downtown Ocean City motel over his alcohol consumption.

On May 25, a Silver Spring man was arrested on first-degree assault charges after allegedly attacking a female victim at a downtown Boardwalk hotel. The suspect allegedly threw to the ground and choked a female victim who was staying with him and another couple. When the victim got in a verbal argument with another female occupant of the room, the man allegedly told her she had to leave and threw all of her belongings in the hallway.  When the victim refused to leave, Nolen allegedly got in her face, called her several racial slurs and knocked her to the ground and began choking her around the neck with both hands. The victim only escaped when others in the room interceded to help her.

The list goes on and on and these are just a few examples of the domestic assaults that occurred in the resort area this summer. With its millions of visitors each summer and all of the baggage that comes with, including alcohol and often drug consumption, domestic assault incidents are far too prevalent. Many are of the “he said, she said” variety and go unreported without arrests made. In other cases, arrests are made but the cases are often not prosecuted because the victims refuse to testify against their attackers.

O’Neal said the OCPD officers follow their standard operating procedures when investigating domestic assaults and arrests are made based on three basic criteria.

“An officer must make an arrest at a domestic assault incident if the facts are present,” she said. “It had to have occurred with 48 hours. The victim and the suspect must cohabitate and there has to be clear evidence that it occurred, such as signs of an injury. If our officers can’t clearly determine who the primary aggressor was and neither individual was acting in self-defense, then both must be arrested.”

O’Neal said domestic assault incidents in the resort and elsewhere present unique challenges for officers. “Domestic assault calls are actually considered one of the most dangerous calls an officer responds to because there is always deep-rooted emotion involved,” she said. “Oftentimes, the years of emotion involved are the most difficult obstacle for our officers. It can often be a very volatile situation, which sometimes presents a safety concern for the officer, not to mention the two involved and other family members.”

O’Neal said the OCPD has been proactive with the growing problem of domestic assault in the resort and has created a unit tasked with handling the situations specifically.

“We have a Domestic Violence Unit that assists victims in obtaining peace orders, refers them to the proper social services agencies, and completes threat assessments in an attempt to predict possible future violence,” she said. “The unit also contacts the agencies where the two resides to inform them of the domestic-related crime.”