Depending on the data on which you’re relying, Oklahoma is “either No. 1 or No. 2 in the nation,” according to Cindy Smith, an investigator for the Special Victims Crime Unit of the Sequoyah County Sheriff’s Office.
But Smith says “that’s absolutely not where we want to be as a state.”
The ranking is for deaths and homicides involving domestic violence, Smith explained Monday during the Sequoyah County Commissioners’ weekly meeting when she asked the commissioners to proclaim October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month in the county.
Because the proclamation was “left off the agenda,” District 3 Commissioner Jim Rogers promised Smith the board “will unanimously do that next week.”
But with a standingroom- only crowd of more than 40 jamming the commissioners’ meeting room, Smith didn’t squander the opportunity to share her message.
“The county commissioners have always signed a proclamation declaring October to be Domestic Violence Awareness Month in Sequoyah County. It has brought forward much more awareness in the community, it’s brought education into this county that before may not have been there,” Smith said.
“We see a lot more support for our victims of domestic violence, which is incredible, because most of the time the reason victims don’t come forward is they’re afraid of being judged, and they’re afraid no one will believe them. There’s a stigma attached to being a domestic violence victim, and they realize that.
“We’re either No. 1 or No. 2 in the nation for deaths, homicides involving domestic violence, and that’s absolutely not where we want to be as a state. We wanna be No. 1 or No. 2 in education and all those things, but to be No. 1 or No. 2 — depending on which of the studies or data you’re looking at — in domestic violencerelated deaths, that’s not good,” she told the commissioners.
“So we’re doing a great job here, we really are. Sequoyah County has come so far ahead of some of the other counties, you just have no idea how thankful we are for y’all.
“We are now going to enter into one more year of a Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) funded advocate — we did get our grant renewed, which was wonderful, because there were a lot of cuts that were done because of lack of funding for the VOCA program,” Smith said.
Smith then announced that Sarah Ridinger, the county’s VOCA-funded advocate, was recognized as Advocate of the Year at a ceremony in Oklahoma City.
“I’m really, really proud of Sarah, she does a good job. She doesn’t just take care of Sequoyah County Sheriff’s Office, she takes care of every police department around — they call her, they utilize her. So that is a really, really big deal,” Smith said.
“Education is a big part of this, and I’m gonna be honest with you, if it wasn’t for Larry Lane being sheriff and Sequoyah County commissioners that we have, this would never happen as easily as it’s happened, because y’all realize the need for it, and you’ve worked with us and made that a priority.”
