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Print version - ©COPYRIGHT 2007 The Honolulu Advertiser -Hawaii's Newspaper , a Page 2 of 4 Police statistics to the end of August show domestic abuse cases on the Big Island are running ahead of figures for last year in all parts of the island except for Hilo and Puna, said Lillian Tavares, domestic violence and sex assault victim service coordinator with Big Island police. As of the end of August, there were 622 cases reported on the Big Island, compared with 582 for the same period the yeaz before. The largest increases were in Kona and ~ South Kohala, while the numbers of reported cases dropped in Hilo and Puna. However, Tavares believes the true number of domestic violence cases is higher. She said some abuse cases may never be reported because the victims don't want family members to be jailed. She also identified 40 additional cases from January through August that were classified as assaults rather than domestic abuse but involved intimate partners, she said. One of the problems Tavares cited is a lack of educational programs for the public. Most people don't have ready access to educational material on domestic abuse and may not know what to do when they observe or become involved in domestic violence. j= Denby Toci, domestic violence advocate for Child & Family Service, said there needs to be a review of both the efforts to educate the public, and the police and court efforts to hold batterers accountable for what they have done. "What I've been witnessing is too much victims and not enough reformed batterers;' she ~ - said. Some cases are dropped, or some abusers aze sentenced to treatment programs that don't seem to have much effect, she said. "A lot of it is repeat offenders who aze being ordered to get treatment for the second or third time," she said. Both Tavares and Toci said more has to be done to get the public to report abuse or suspected abuse. "Family is always the first safety net before the 911 call, because family sees everything," Tavares said. Cindy Iannce-Spencer, director of client and community services for the Domestic Violence Cleazing House and Legal Hotline, said most domestic violence homicides happen when women aze finally leaving a relationship. "That's the most dangerous time, and what we'd like to see is that when people make that decision to leave, they do it by talking with somebody at a domestic violence agency that can help them plan to do it in a way that will create safety for them," she said. That may mean going to a shelter, or leaving the island entirely to go into hiding, she said. Puna resident Andrena White, 37, said the rural lifestyle in some Big Island neighborhoods is "not allowing us to support each other." White was a longtime friend of Sarah Fay, a pregnant woman who died last yeaz after she allegedly was beaten by her boyfriend. Fay was left brain-dead after the attack but remained on life support until her baby son could be delivered. "You can came here and hide out for months and months and months," White said of the Big Island. "There's a lot of land between houses, and because of that, it's sad to say but a lot of things can happen without other people hearing." http://the.honoluluadver[iser.com/article/2006/Nov/]9/ln/FP611190355.htm1/?print=on 5/18/2007