Domestic Violence: Parsons Dirty Secret

Chief Robert Spinks

(Reprinted from the August 16, 2024 Parsons Police Community Report to the Community insert in The SUN Newspaper)

The crime rate in Parsons, especially violent crime is driven by Domestic Violence cases. With 168 reported domestic violence cases reported in 2023, this is simply an unacceptable rate of occurrence. Half of the homicides investigated and solved by Parsons PD in the past decade involved domestic violence.

Parsons had an uptick in our crime rate in 2023, yet still below crime occurrence reported from 2003 through 2017 (except in 2020).

Every community has varying factors that contribute toward criminal activity. Parsons has a unique socio-economic mix, and we are seeing a decrease in population, (yet an increase in employment, retail sales and schools), we see the negative impact of drugs with employers who struggle to have job applicants who can pass a drug test.

There will be those who will complain that violent crime is the fault of policing. That is pure ignorance. With 1,137 arrests being made in 2023, a 29% increase over 2022. You cannot arrest a community out of crime when there is a revolving door. Over 57% of all arrestees were arrested more than once in 2023. We had repeat arrests that included individuals who were arrested 8, 9, 10, even 11 times in one year.

As a state we do not want to invest in new prisons, so we merely add more opportunities for probation in the sentencing guidelines. As a society we want helping services, but fail to fund the safety nets for at-risk individuals and families. We want mental health services, but then fail to provide adequate in-patient care thus turning county jails into the largest mental health facilities in the nation.

But I want to focus on our community's number one crime problem . . . domestic violence.

We have all heard there is no place like home. Home is where the heart is. Home is where we want to kick up our heels or let our hair down. Home is where families gather to share the joys of children, of parents, of good food and friends. Home is where we most of all dream of sharing life and love, dreams and hopes, with those most dear to us.

Unfortunately, though, in all too many homes in Parsons, the reality is not so peaceful. In all too many homes, there is not peace but violence. In all too many homes, there is not friendship but fear. In all too many homes love has been replaced by abuse.

Domestic violence can be triggered by socio-economic stressors, unequal power relations in a relationship, illegal drugs, a lack of job skills, unavailable and costly daycare, and much more.

We must not forget about these crimes that disrupt homes and destroys families. It is estimated that over 2 million acts of domestic violence take place each year in the United States.

Domestic violence is an issue that affects all aspects of our society and is not bound by race, economics, or age. It can be blamed for increased medical care costs, decreased productivity, and increased absences from work. Domestic violence also promotes a culture of depression, hopelessness, and fear. One incidence of domestic violence can create a cycle of despair that is difficult for not only the victim, but also entire families to overcome.

Family violence has a devastating impact on all of us....

And it is an effect that has touched my family . . . 

In 1982, my wife's sister Kathy was murdered by her ex-husband, here is an excerpt from a letter to the Indiana Parole Board written by my wife - this was an annual process in our house until the killer's release back in 2012:

Dear Parole Board Members:

Well, this is another year, and yet another opportunity for Tom HEMPEL to attempt to somehow justify, sell or mystify the Parole Board to believe that he has changed, atoned, or evolved from that sad sorrowful day in 1982 when he brutally murdered my sister Kathy WILLEM. 

Time unfortunately tends to bury the dead. Time tends to bury the bright souls of victims who have been cheated from live. Time tends to allow the memory of victims and the violence of past crimes against them to also fade. It is for this very reason that the only voices that can speak for the buried, to ensure that the life that was taken from them is remembered and brought forth for the Parole Board to remember are family members like myself. HEMPEL tossed his value as a human being away when he acted with brutal savagery, has continued to spit in the face of society's expectations and has fallen far short of the due he owes for his actions. Rehabilitation aside, how do you rehabilitate a violent prisoner who has failed in every way? 

My sister, Kathy endured years of physical violence at the hands of HEMPEL during their marriage of nearly a decade. She like so many victims of domestic violence were trapped in a dysfunctional relationship, HEMPEL did everything possible to keep our family and my brothers away from Kathy, and HEMPEL held Kathy as a prisoner who was forced to endure repeated browbeating, restricted movement and he kept Kathy cut off from telephone contact with family and friends - a typical route for a violent abuser to take.  Even in the 1970's Kathy tried to seek the help of the criminal justice system and repeatedly made reports of being assaulted by HEMPEL with resulting arrests being made and the result being merely more and more beatings at the brutal and uncaring hands of HEMPEL.

The psychopathy of a convicted murderer is no greater evidenced by his continued and misdirected attempts to shift responsibility and blame for his horrendous acts to my sister who endured years of physical and psychological abuse and ultimately was murdered at the hands of HEMPEL. Kathy spent her last minutes of existence alone in a barn as HEMPEL strangled her to death. An irrational crime, an act of passion? No, this ultimate act of brutal control was very cold and calculated; it was a horrific and deliberate act with its premeditation evidenced by his stalking of Kathy prior to his final violent attack and of his attempt to conceal his crime by then burying Kathy under dark, damp bales of hay in this lonely and isolated barn.

As Martin Luther King, Jr., so eloquently said, "Morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heatless." So has been the case in successfully changing the attitudes and conduct of a generation through citizen support which Parsons must now engage in.

       While the realities of domestic violence are grim, we have hope. Our hope stems from the belief that with education, resources, and support, victims of domestic violence can overcome their circumstances. That hope also lies here with each of you - by taking a stand today to address domestic violence in Parsons.

September 1st the Parsons Domestic Violence Unit (DVU) is born through a 2-year grant. Sergeant Tony Adamson will lead the Unit and Cyprus Jones has been hired as a Victim Advocate. Our local Victim Advocate from Safehouse will be co-located in the unit. This is not just about enhanced prosecutions, though there will be a closer look at domestic violence prosecutions.

A new High Risk Team (HRT) made up of helping, education, mental health, the Department for Children and Families (DCF),  faith based groups, and other helping agencies will partner to provide services, opportunities and guidance to domestic violence victims and survivors to help to provide what has been missing in Parsons.

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You'll be seeing and reading more about domestic violence in the coming days and weeks as we hit this community scourge head on.