Following the 21 domestic violence deaths in 2007, The Frederick News-Post asked some of the county's key stakeholders in combating the crimes to offer their thoughts on how we, as a community and a society, could move forward to reduce domestic violence. (Responses edited for grammar and style).

As we Frederick County residents think back over the events of the last year or so, it's almost impossible to not remember the tragedies -- the staggeringly high number of serious injuries and deaths attributed to domestic violence in our community. Domestic violence, a pattern of coercive behavior characterized by power and control of one person over another, usually an intimate partner, through physical, economic, psychological, verbal, and/or sexual abuse, has always been a part of our community, just as it has been everywhere.

But in years past, without the oh-so-frequent headlines, perhaps it was easier to think that such violence was a just another urban ill facing those who lived down I-70 or I-270.

But it's not...not then, not now. And maybe that's what made the last year an unusual period. Not that innocent women and children were murdered and injured by the very people they once thought would love them and care for them forever, but that the frequency made everyone take notice that it was our neighbors, family and friends...our community...who were the victims.

Heartly House has, for almost 30 years, provided a wide range of services to victims and survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and sexual abuse, and throughout the years, has worked collaboratively with others to increase the impact of our efforts. In the last year, though, we've created even stronger partnerships that I believe have great potential.

Beginning last summer, and now in all Frederick County law enforcement agencies, officers in the field are literally picking up the phones to bring together law enforcement, Heartly House staff, and victims who've shown that they are living with too high a risk of injury.

When we know that nationally only 4 percent of women eventually killed by their partners have availed themselves of help from a domestic violence service provider, our emerging statistic here in Frederick that approximately 70 percent of women offered the phone are talking to us to learn what help is available, is a clear sign to me that we have found another avenue to meet our goals...to reach more victims, and to reach them before huge tragedy.

And it really is crucial that we find them. We need to be sure that people living with domestic violence know that they are not alone, that the abuse heaped upon them is not their fault, and that there indeed is help.