Potter County’s numbers up 72% past three years

They’re the kind of cases that make seasoned investigators blush and then their blood boil.

They involve children, some as young as 2, who are prodded to provide harrowing details of sexual abuse.

And more troubling is that the trend in sex crimes against children in Potter County is going the wrong way.

In only three years, the number of cases in Potter has increased by about 72 percent to make up about 6.5 percent of the criminal docket by the end of 2009. In fact, Potter, the 31st most populated county in the state, has about the same number of indecency or aggravated sexual assault cases involving children as Dallas County, the second most populated county, according to the Texas Office of Court Administration.

As last year drew to a close, there were 277 cases, including 155 filed in 2009 against 88 people, on the docket in Potter County involving a juvenile victim of either sexual assault or indecency.

Compare that to 312 in the far-more-populated county of Dallas. Or to the 79 cases on the docket in Randall County, Potter’s next-door neighbor.

Randall’s case numbers, which have dropped slightly during the past three years, are about average for counties with populations of about 115,000 to 120,000. (U.S. Census estimates for 2008 put Potter’s population about 121,000 and Randall’s at 114,500.)

Potter’s statistics are contrary to state trends, too, according to Child Protective Services, which investigates sexual, physical and emotional abuse and cases of neglect by a caretaker.

“What really strikes me is, it seems to be going down slightly on a regional basis and a statewide basis,” CPS spokesman Greg Cunningham said.

The percentage of sexual abuse cases in CPS’ Region 1, which includes 41 area counties, dropped from 9.2 in fiscal year 2007 to 8.1 at the end of 2009. Statewide, it dropped slightly, from 9.9 percent to 9.2 percent, according to CPS records.

When comparing the divergent rates of sexual abuse in Potter and Randall counties, some of it can be attributable simply to more children living in Potter (more than 34,750) than in Randall (about 25,500). A child is defined by Texas law as anyone 17 years of age or younger.

But it’s difficult for officials to explain why Potter is an exception to recent trends.

47th District Attorney Randall Sims said his office, which has two prosecutors assigned to handle the cases, hasn’t made any recent changes or necessarily become more aggressive prosecuting sex crimes. He said it’s possible the “ones that are getting reported, we’re having a better factual basis to be able to prove the case.”

According to national statistics released by The Bridge Children’s Advocacy Center in Amarillo, a nonprofit organization that investigates allegations of abuse against minors, 1 in 4 children nationally will be sexually assaulted by age 18, with the perpetrator in nearly all cases being someone they know.

Experts say abuse of any type can be cyclical in nature.

“We definitely see generational connections when it comes to abuse,” Cunningham said. “That’s why it’s so critical we find those kids and get them out of that environment to break that cycle.”

Adds Sims: “The only way I know to break that trend is for someone to report it. It takes a strong individual to break a cycle like that.”

Socioeconomic factors like poverty, job loss, drug use or divorce also play a role, Cunningham said. Potter County, for instance, has a comparatively high poverty rate, while drug cases in Potter last year made up about 30 percent of all criminal cases. In Randall, they constituted about 21 percent.

About one-fifth of the Amarillo Police Department’s 30 detectives are assigned to the Crimes Against Persons Unit, which investigates cases of sexual abuse of children.

“The majority of those cases that take our time are the child abuse and sex crimes,” said Amarillo police Lt. Martin Birkenfeld, who is assigned to the unit.

On average, April Leming, executive director at The Bridge, said her agency interviews at least five children a day. About 80 percent of the children her agency sees are suspected of being victims of sexual abuse, she said.

The rest might be victims of physical abuse or witnesses to a crime. In 20 years, staffing levels at The Bridge have grown from one full-time interviewer to five, and there are plans to hire a sixth.

But experts believe awareness of child abuse is on the rise and perhaps a reason for so many cases.

Sims said the state Legislature has spent time during the past two sessions discussing the topic and the media has shined a spotlight on the issue.

“Maybe that’s helped with more reporting,” he said. “Maybe we’re having more people come forward than in the past.”

A state law now requires anyone who suspects child abuse to immediately report it to authorities or face up to 180 days in jail and/or a fine up to $2,000.

“I do believe strongly, as a society, we recognize child abuse more than we used to and we certainly report it at a higher rate than we used to,” Cunningham said. “That goes for all types of child abuse. I think we all have a responsibility to get involved in that situation.”

Source: http://www.amarillo.com/stories/020710/new_news8.shtml

Texas must finally stop tolerating child abuse

It would seem almost providential that the state Blue Ribbon Task Force held its first meeting last week, just days before police say Elyse Colon stabbed her two little boys to death.

The task force, established by the Legislature last year, extends the child abuse-prevention work of Sen. Carlos Uresti beyond the San Antonio Democrat’s political borders. A group of nine appointed by the governor, lieutenant governor and House speaker will review how state, local and law enforcement agencies address child abuse. The Legislature will receive the task force’s recommendations next year.

The task force is inspired by countless tragedies. Per capita, Texas has a higher rate of child deaths from abuse or neglect than other states.

Last year was deadly. The state’s unofficial tally for the last fiscal year reported 275 children killed as the result of abuse or neglect. If the trend continues, before the group meets again in two weeks, another 10 or so children will be killed.

Locally, Colon’s name will briefly sear itself into our consciousness the way Otty Sanchez’s did last year and Valerie Lopez’s two years before that. Sanchez is accused of killing and dismembering her 3-week-old son, while Lopez is serving a life sentence in the deaths of her 14-month-old daughter and 4-month-old son, whose bodies were found buried under a Southwest Side home.

Then our attention will wane until another horrific death.

So prevalent is the mortal abuse and neglect of young children that risk is easily discerned. For instance, experts have determined children are especially vulnerable during the first five months of life, when extended periods of crying aren’t uncommon, and at the toddler/pre-school age, when potty-training accidents may be a factor.

With such clear patterns, why can’t more be done to prevent abuse?

The Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities last year analyzed Texas’ child abuse and neglect deaths, and the findings weren’t entirely surprising. Our high rate of child poverty and teen pregnancy are big contributors to the high abuse and death rates, as is lack of access to quality family-support services. Improving outlooks in all three areas, the nonpartisan policy institute’s analysis suggested, would be a good place to start.

James Castro, executive director of St. Peter-St. Joseph Children’s Home, is a governor’s appointee to the task force. The facility he heads has decades of experience dealing with children who have been removed from their homes by Child Protective Services because of abuse or neglect concerns. With capacity for 138 children, on Friday, St. PJ’s had 103.

The solution, Castro suggests, must include the kind of relentless passion that Mothers Against Drunk Driving summoned to tackle and make progress against the problem of drunken driving. MADD blanketed communities with education campaigns and exerted steadfast political pressure to increase penalties and prosecutions.

“We need to create the culture that we’re not going to tolerate it anymore,” Castro said.

My question: Why aren’t we already there?

Source: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/columnists/veronica_flores_paniagua/83694857.html