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

by Rachel Louise Snyder

In Massachusetts, I’d been on a call once where a brother had assaulted his sister. She’d come in, crying, to the station to make the report. The officer took her statement, and then offered her a drink of water or a cup of coffee, asked if she’d like to stay at the station for a while just to get ahold of herself (she agreed). Then he talked to her just for a minute or two about familial violence, how hard it could be on people, how it was good she’d come in. Just general stuff. He hadn’t done much—offered her a drink, a minute to gather herself, a statement of empathy. But that is sort of the point. He had done so little and yet still it amounted to an acknowledgment of their shared humanity and in the end would mean so much to her.

In Massachusetts, I’d been on a call once where a brother had assaulted his sister. She’d come in, crying, to the station to make the report. The officer took her statement, and then offered her a drink of water or a cup of coffee, asked if she’d like to stay at the station for a while just to get ahold of herself (she agreed). Then he talked to her just for a minute or two about familial violence, how hard it could be on people, how it was good she’d come in. Just general stuff. He hadn’t done much—offered her a drink, a minute to gather herself, a statement of empathy. But that is sort of the point. He had done so little and yet still it amounted to an acknowledgment of their shared humanity and in the end would mean so much to her. Snyder, Rachel Louise. No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us (pp. 191-192). Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition.