Domestic violence often hides behind closed doors, in the shadows of abusive relationships.
When it surfaces, law enforcement is there ready to arrest the guilty, prosecutors there to convict, and advocacy groups stand at the ready to bring assistance and comfort to victims. It's work they gladly do ... and wish they didn't have to.
All of those members of the community were on hand Wednesday in downtown St. Cloud, along with some good-natured men willing to do an awkward, and maybe slightly painful walk -- in heals, right down a crowded New York Avenue during the city's Wednesday Monthly Market.
It was all a part of Help Now of Osceola's fifth annual "Walk A Mile In Their Shoes" outreach event, a chance for men in the community to bring meaningful awareness to domestic abuse by walking in public in high heels. It's a local event that sprung from an international movement started in 2001.
The dozen or so stylishly-fitted guys from city, county, community and government groups walked down the street from City Hall to 12th Street and back, capturing the attention of Market-goers.
Help Now Executive Director Tammy Douglass calls it an annual chance for the entire community, male and female, to stand up (a wobbly in heals through) and stand together with domestic violence survivors and the struggles they face.
Ninth District State Attorney Monique Worrell was on hand, to advocate for the cause just like she and her Assistant State Attorneys do for victims in courtrooms.
"People may judge a survivor of domestic violence, but most have not taken a proverbial walk in her shoes," she said Wednesday. "Some may chastise for returning to the father of her children, believing that's what best for them. Some may not believe her when she speaks of the emotional manipulation she endures behind closed doors, or understand the incredibly difficult decisions she must make, the financial ruin she may have walk into, the social abandonment, the custody battle, just to escape her abuser."
Few people, Worrell said, will stand by her, testify with her in court, or stand by her family and not be alone in confronting her abuser.
"As State Attorney, I know all too well how prevalent cases of domestic violence are in our circuit," she said. "They are far too common in our community and affects millions of people year but is rarely talked about publicly. Cases only make the news headlines if someone has died, or the abuser is a public figure. Even when victims survive, we rarely here about their journey."
Victims go to the county office of Circuit Court Clerk Kelvin Soto to file injunctions against abusive partners -- some 1,500 were filed in 2022, putting Osceola County above the state average according to the Department of Health.
"That's why events like these are important to helping to reduce incidents," he said. "Our office has reduced processing times for an injunctions, and allows petitioners to receive court decisions electronically, reducing the need to come to our office, saving precious time in often dire circumstances."
St. Cloud Police Chief Doug Goerke said partnerships with those agencies make it easier to prosecute those offend and actually batter their significant other.
"We respond to too many domestic incidents were people become victims," said Goerke, who sported a pair of bedazzled shoes, heal-less but nonetheless sporty. "It's something we have to break. We stand ready to assist at any point."
