October is Domestic Violence Awareness month. Monmouth Police Chief Joe Switzer explains how domestic violence is described under Illinois law:
“Under Illinois law, any person who hits, strangles, kicks, threatens, harasses, or interferes with personal liberty of another family or household member, has broken the Illinois Domestic Violence law. With a household member, that kind of gets grey sometimes when you are trying to determine who is a household member and how it would apply to the domestic violence. The state of Illinois defines a household member as any family member related by blood or marriage, people who are married or were married, people who share or used to share a home, people who have or say they have a child in common, or say they have a blood relation through a child, people who are dating or used to date, and people with disabilities and their personal assistants,” Switzer says.
Anyone experiencing domestic violence should report the situation to the police. The 24 hour Western Illinois Regional Council crisis hotline can be reached at 837-5555.
