The drive includes posters and radio ads.
LEWISTON – An eight-week run of radio spots kicked off Tuesday encouraging neighbors to report the sounds or suspicions of domestic violence by dialing 911.
Planning for the campaign started the week after Billie Jo Smith’s murder in April. Police suspect she was beaten all night long, Chief William Welch said. No one dialed 911 until the morning, when she was already dead.
No one called in January, either, when Cherie Ann Andrews was strangled to death by her boyfriend.
“We really felt, if neighbors had gotten involved, perhaps, the end result would not have been another domestic violence homicide,” said Chris Fenno, executive director of the Abused Women’s Advocacy Project.
AWAP paired with the Lewiston and Auburn police departments, Androscoggin Domestic Abuse Task Force and Encompass Design for the poster and radio campaign.
In addition, Lewiston police have hung signs on the major roads into towns declaring the city a no-tolerance zone for domestic violence.
Last year, Welch said his department got more than 2,500 calls reporting domestic violence.
“Let us be the judge (of) who needs to be arrested” or if intervention is required, he added. Those calls resulted in 500 arrests, which is evidence that a lot of issues are being resolved before they escalate, Welch said.
In the murder cases with Smith and Andrews, “Probably someone overheard, didn’t realize what they were hearing (and) chose not to get involved,” he said. “People shouldn’t have the expectation someone else will call.”
Smith’s murder was ruled a murder-suicide at the hands of her boyfriend, Raymond Tripp Jr. Francoise Gallant was sentenced this summer to 38 years in prison for Andrews’ death.
Both women were killed in high-density apartment buildings, Fenno said, leading people to believe someone, at some point, heard something.
When they respond to a 911 report, “Police won’t say ‘One of your neighbor’s called,'” Fenno said. And callers don’t have to give their names.
“We want to stop domestic violence homicide, plain and simple,” she said. “We really can do something about it, that is the message of hope.”
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