Chief’s Corner

“Protecting, serving and educating America’s future”

October 17, 2007

Dating Violence/Abuse

What can I do?

This month is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and there have been several programs on campus that have addressed this serious issue. We thought that some information on Dating Violence and what that means to you might be in order. Most of our students are not married and because of that they may believe that they are not protected by the domestic violence (DV) laws of this state. They certainly are as the DV law was written to incorporate dating relationships. If you are in a dating relationship it means you do not have to tolerate physical, emotional, verbal or sexual abuse because you are covered under the DV law. If your partner is extremely jealous, possessive, has hit, kicked or shoved you, constantly insulting or criticizing you, or threatened to hurt you or themself because of the relationship, you may be in a relationship you should consider getting out of. Many abusers increase their pattern and type of abuse. For example, the abuse may begin as verbal and increase to physical and worse yet, assault. It is prudent to remove yourself from relationships that exhibit any of these traits.

Another area covered by the DV law is a situation of co-habitation, i.e. living with someone. That may include your college roommate(s) in certain situations. If your roommate has committed one of the offenses covered under the DV law, you may be a DV victim. Keep in mind the gender of the victim does not matter as both males and females may be victimized.

The crimes covered under the DV law are homicide, assault, terroristic threats, kidnapping, criminal restraint, false imprisonment, sexual assault, criminal sexual contact, lewdness, criminal mischief, burglary, criminal trespass, harassment and stalking. We do not expect our community to be experts in DV law or the crimes associated with the law. Contact us at the campus police for assistance. We have specially trained officers who can assist including Officer Cortney McDevitt who is an instructor at the Attorney General’s Advanced Domestic Violence Investigation Course and Investigator Cindy Parker who has received advanced training in this crime.

There are many resources available to assist domestic violence victims, for example, the Coalition for Battered Women, NJ Division of Woman, statewide domestic violence hotline, 1-800-572-SAFE (7233), and many others. Additionally, the responding officer will assist you with the filing of a temporary restraining order against the alleged offender if you so desire. The DV law was put into effect to protect all members of our state against an abuser. Those protections and in some instances additional protections are available to all members of our campus community.

COMMUNITY SAFETY BULLETIN: Last week we had 2 cars stolen from our Housing 2/3 parking lots in the middle of the night. We ask that if you see any suspicious activity on our campus to contact us immediately at X4390 so we can investigate it.

PARKING: On Thursday, November 8, 2007, we are anticipating a large crowd on campus for an open house program being organized by the Admissions Office. If you have class on that date between the hours of 8:30am and 2pm, please leave yourself extra time to find a parking space and use the North Lot if the main lots are full.

Skateboarding/bicycling: We recently had an unfortunate incident involving a couple of students on bicycles who were allegedly “hotdogging” on our pedestrian walkways. This is clearly against our college policy and we refer you to page #79 of the Student Handbook for complete details of the regulations in regard to use of skateboards and bicycles. Keep in mind safety of the community is paramount and unsafe operation of these devices will result in administrative action against the offender.

TIP OF THE WEEK: In New Jersey, drivers are required to yield to pedestrians in a cross walk according to N.J. S. 39-4-36. On campus we have many cross walks and many people walking, so for the safety of our community we ask all motorists to slow down when approaching a cross walk and to yield to pedestrians when they are crossing a roadway.

Safety is everyone’s business, so please report any safety or security concern to us at X4390 or dial 9-1-1 in an emergency.