No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us

by Rachel Louise Snyder

They have only seconds between each call to discuss strategy. Unlike other crisis situations, where an offender takes strangers as hostages and time can often help deescalate a situation, such time is not on their side in a domestic violence situation. The longer it goes on, the more likely it could escalate and end in violence. They have to be approachable yet firm, confident yet empathetic. They have only their words. It’s a complete departure from how officers normally operate, where there is a clear delineation of powerful and powerless. Using the tools of what Hamish Sinclair would call “to intimate,” they have to compel an offender to relinquish control. They cannot bark orders. They cannot make demands. They cannot throw a noncompliant offender to the ground and handcuff him. All they have, in this moment, are words. And some officers, it’s fair to say, are better with words than others.