Special Victims Unit recognized at City Council meeting

Councilmember Pam Bertani read a proclamation declaring it Domestic Violence Awareness Month in Fairfield at the City Council meeting on October 18, 2022. Fairfield Police Department’s Domestic Violence Program Manager, Lilia Breaux, accepted the proclamation and thanked her Special Victims Unit team for their exceptional work: Detectives Dennis Chapman, Darin Miller, and Jeremy Nipper.

The month of October is annually recognized as National Domestic Awareness Month to recognize the progress and the important work that remains to be done toward preventing and ending domestic violence and providing support to survivors and their families. Domestic violence is not confined to any group or groups of people, but crosses all economic, racial,  gender, educational, religious, and societal barriers.

The crime of domestic violence violates an individual’s privacy, dignity, security, and humanity, due to the systematic use of physical, emotional, sexual, psychological, and economic control and/or abuse. The impact of domestic violence is wide-ranging, directly affects women, men, and children, and society as a whole. The question often asked to victims of domestic violence is, “Why do you stay?” What should be asked is, “Why does the abuse continue?"

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. Each year, thousands of women and men are victims of intimate partner violence in Solano County.

In the city of Fairfield alone, there’s been approximately 886 domestic violence related incidents reported between October 2021 and October 2022. That is an average of approximately 73 incidents per month.

For more information, visit Fairfield.ca.gov/familyviolence. To report domestic violence, contact Lilia Breaux at [email protected] or call (707) 428-7770. In an emergency situation call 9-1-1 or (707) 428-7373.