Students STRONG in face of domestic violence

KARL VILACOBA Dr. Kasturi Das Gupta addresses the crowd outside the Brick Municipal Building during last week’s Take Back the Night vigil.

BRICK –– Just a "naive" rookie cop in 1977, Brick Police Department Lt. Donald Horbelt recalled the first time he responded to a domestic violence report.

Because the laws governing these crimes were not yet on the books, Horbelt said there was little he could do at all.

"I felt frustration. I was embarrassed I had to leave," Horbelt said.

Today, police have far more tools to protect the victims of domestic violence, and many crimes are subject to mandatory arrests. But the problem still runs rampant, and Brick is no exception. In 2002 –– a year where a research firm rated Brick the second-safest city in the country, statistically –– police investigated 816 cases of domestic violence. This places Brick among the top three in Ocean County, Horbelt said.

About 50 community leaders and students assembled outside the Brick Municipal Building Oct. 29 to hold a candlelight vigil called Take Back the Night in recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The program was organized by Striving Toward Respect and Opportunity for New Growth (STRONG), an after-school group for young women at Brick Township Memorial High School. The group is one of several programs offered by the school-based Youth Services Program at Brick Memorial.

"Your candles are going to send out a bright message to the world –– that we will not tolerate domestic violence in Brick Township," said Mayor Joseph Scarpelli, who served as master of ceremonies.

Dr. Kasturi Das Gupta, professor and chair of the Sociology and Anthropology Department at Georgian Court College, Lakewood, told the crowd that America’s media and pop culture actively markets sexism. Young men and women need to resist a culture which encourages men to rise to power and dominance, and portrays weak and submissive females as attractive, Das Gupta said.

Horbelt recounted some of the excuses he has heard from aggressors while investigating domestic violence reports: "she bruises easily"; "she fell because she’s clumsy"; "it was an accident"; "she was drunk or high."

Society needs to hold these criminals accountable for their actions, he said.

For more information on domestic violence, such as how to file restraining orders, Horbelt recommended the Brick Police Department Web site at www.brickpd.com.