IT’S A LONG TITLE and some readers could be forgiven if their eyes glazed over as they read it in Friday’s Gazette: the Intimate Partner Domestic Violence Primary Prevention Plan. But the name of the plan is long because it is specific. It is a map for a nine-year effort intended to reduce domestic violence in Lyon County.
The plan was developed by the Lyon County Coordinated Community Response Team, an amalgamation of representatives from every group in the county that deals daily with the costs — human and economic — of domestic violence.
Lyon County is breaking new ground here. Efforts to stem violence against children, spouses and partners are not new, but the welding together of so many agencies and organizations to participate in a single long-term effort is something different. In fact, Lyon County is the first county in the state to complete such a plan. The project is supported by the Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The plan, which was detailed in Friday’s announcement, is not a top-of-the-head response to a dangerous social problem. It is the result of a five-year study by the community team. The plan includes community actions aimed at increasing awareness and education in the community, supporting for the victims of violence and enforcing the laws against domestic violence.
Why should it take nine years to complete such an effort? Domestic violence in its many forms is self-sustaining and deeply ingrained in the culture. In response to the violence, victims are at risk of becoming abusers themselves, or at least of abetting abuse. Stopping domestic violence is not just a matter of preventing one crime, but of breaking a chain of crime that, in some cases, stretches back for generations.
Is the plan workable? There is no way to know until it is put into effect. if there are flaws, nine years gives time to tinker and improve.
But with so many community resources involved in carrying out the plan, it is not likely to fail for want of honest effort.
If the plan succeeds, the lives of many people in Lyon County will be saved or salvaged.
There is no more worthwhile goal.