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Diane Pratt, executive director of the Cape Cod Center for Women, helps a young girl at the microphone at the second annual Candlelight Vigil to raise awareness about domestic violence at Peg Noonan Park in Falmouth. The girl and others in the background who are supporters of the center, read names of victims of domestic violence at the end of the vigil.
FALMOUTH – The woman stood at the microphone and cried as she told her story in public for the first time.
“I am a victim of a domestic violence homicide,” she said.
As a young child, she said, she watched as her father killed her mother. Today, as a mother herself, she wants to show her own daughter that women can be strong.
Another woman told of her ordeal 20 years ago when she was taken from her home and repeatedly raped. She made the T-shirt stating the words, “I Am Alive,” that waved in the breeze behind her on a clothesline of T-shirts made by survivors of domestic violence.
Three other survivors of domestic violence told their stories and read poems during the Cape Cod Center for Women’s second annual Candlelight Vigil in Peg Noonan Park in Falmouth Friday night. October is Domestic Violence Month.
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Falmouth Police Chief Edward Dunne is among those at the Candlelight Vigil to raise awareness about domestic violence.
The event attracted about 50 people gathered around the small stage at the park to honor those impacted and lost to domestic violence.
Diane Pratt, executive director of the Cape Cod Center for Women, said, “I think the most important message is that domestic violence can happen to anybody. It doesn’t make any difference who you are, what you do, where you come from.”
Pratt said the event puts a face with the issue of domestic violence.
“Mostly we just want to commemorate the victims and the survivors of domestic violence,” she said.
Among the politicians at the event were Congressman Bill Keating, State Senator Vinny deMacedo, Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe and Falmouth Selectman Mary (Pat) Flynn.
Falmouth Police Chief Edward Dunne said the event is an opportunity for him, on behalf of his officers, to show solidarity with the victims. He said he has seen a lot of domestic violence in his career as a police officer.
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The Clothesline Project features T-shirts made by survivors of domestic violence.
“In the 37 years that I’ve been doing this, I’ve been to thousands of ‘domestics’ in this town,” he said, using the police term for domestic violence incidents.
He said in the United States, every nine seconds, a woman is abused in a domestic violence incident.
“These numbers are staggering,” he said.
In the town of Falmouth, Dunne said, so far in 2015, the total number of domestic calls is 260. Police have served 76 restraining orders so far this year. The total number of restraining order violations this year is 138, Dunne said.
The Falmouth Police Department’s civilian domestic violence advocate has served 147 victims this year, the chief said.
But Dunne said that as alarming as the numbers are, in his years with the police department, he has seen progress.
“When I started, there was really nothing I could do as a police officer for the victim. Since then, the laws are stronger. There is better training for our police officers,” he said.
He said having shelters, like the one offered by the Cape Cod Center for Women, and services for victims is another positive change.
The chief offered some thoughts on what people can do about the issue.
“What we can do . . . is speak out against domestic violence,” he said. He also advised teaching children about healthy non-violent relationships.
“Men can take the White Ribbon Pledge. I have,” Dunne said, referring to a pledge that men can make never to commit, excuse or remain silent about domestic violence.
The chief made another pledge. “I can pledge to you that the men and women of the Falmouth Police Department are doing all they can and will continue to do all they can to stop domestic violence,” he said.
By LAURA M. RECKFORD, CapeCod.com News Editor
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