By Chan Mon/reporter
Tara Bell, a criminal justice student, recounted an incident when she was a fourth grade student and her neighbor tried to cut a baby with a knife.
Bell’s mother went to the neighbor, who had lived for a period of time with her, and helped get the baby away from the drug-addicted father by calling police.
“It kind of becomes a natural when you’re living in a certain environment,” Bell said.
The number of domestic violence incidents is increasing among students and the community in Tarrant County, said TCC police officer Rose Marie Brant of the victim assistance unit on South Campus.
Most of the violence against women and children comes from alcoholics, drug users and depression sufferers.
Brant said domestic violence happens among couples, partners, friends and family members.
Most of the victims are from the community, and some ask help from TCC police officers.
“Every day, people from the community are asking for assistance,” Brant said. “Sometimes, they are among our students, and we have to split them to different classes.”
Most victims are women, and they are threatened verbally, emotionally and physically.
One in four women worldwide are domestic violence victims, said Annie Potasznik, communication coordinator for Safe Haven of Tarrant County.
Safe Haven is a welfare organization helps women and their children who arevictims of domestic violence.
“Many women are leaving, and many women are coming. Currently, we have six women victims in our shelter,” Potasznik said. “Most victims come with children.”
Some victims were seriously abused, including a woman locked inside the house by her husband, Potasznik added.
“Her husband did not allow her to go out and even did not treat her well, and later she took shelter over here,” Potasznik said. “She had been treated like a prisoner.”
These acts of violence happen both in the citizen and migrant communities living in Tarrant County.
The violence can start for many reasons.
Students should be aware of this violence, said Rachel Huddleston, a business major who moved here from the Washington, D.C., area.
“I was raised with an alcoholic stepfather, and he would beat the tar out of me and my little brother, and no one would believe it because why would such an affluent family have that in there?” she said.
