[Former Fetus]

Several times. But then she would not press charges, so eventually I learned to wait until it was over (and he was gone) and then go in and see if she needed medical help. I know it sounds insane, but I was a graduate student, freshly arrived from another country, and didn't know what else to do.

The worst part of that night was that my neighbor had a 10 year-old girl from another marriage. I looked for her everywhere (yes, my footprints and fingerprints were all over the place) and when I couldn't find her, I knocked at the door of the next apartment. The lady was scared and would not open, just asked me what did I want, and I blurted out "Wanda is dead, Ralph has killed her and I cannot find Brooke" and I heard a scream. The little girl had ran to this other neighbor's apartment and was hiding there, in fear! What a way to find out! I'll never ever forget it!

[SoldierDad]

Wow. That is horrible. It’s a tragedy when law enforcement and/or the courts do not respond to such situations before someone is seriously hurt or killed. There are many states in the U.S. that have domestic violence laws which require the aggressor be arrested when a victim has obvious signs of abuse, whether the victim presses charges or not. This should be the law in all 50 states (or, if you are Barack Obama, all 57 states).

[Respond Code Three]

It was very common before the domestic violence laws were enacted for officers to contact women who had been struck by their husbands. In overwhelming numbers the women refused to sign a complaint. If the injury was minor, the officer couldn't arrest because it didn't happen in his presence. Feminists complained and blamed the officers for not wanting to do anything. The officers couldn't do anything at the time because they had no authority to do anything other than to advise the people to get counseling. Of course, if the injuries were severe then the officers could could still arrest for a felony.

I made a lot of arrests for domestic violence but I never went to trial on a single one. Not one. I went to about two preliminary hearings, but no trials. I assume that in cases where the DA decided to file charges, a deal was made.