Domestic violence on the rise

Director of Crook County Family Violence and Sexual Assault Services Sandy Stevens addressed Pine Haven’s council last Tuesday night, requesting and receiving the town’s annual $1200 contribution to this much-needed enterprise. During her presentation, she offered the council some disturbing information.

Stevens shared that the entity assisted 56 victims of domestic violence throughout 2021 compared to 35 in the previous year and utilized twice as many individual services, from a little more than 900 in 2020 to almost 2000 in 2021.

She and husband Crook County Deputy Sheriff Eric Stevens spoke to the increase of crime across the board within the county. Eric reported, “The overall crime statistics are up quite a bit. [With] domestic violence, countywide, we’re up about 91% for the [2021] year.”

He commended the Pine Haven community, though, saying, “In Pine Haven, your numbers seem to be right about where they historically have been.”

Sandy subsequently explained that of the 91% countywide, the neighboring town of Moorcroft actually shows a 16% increase in arrests for domestic violence in 2021.