Southwest Virginia Officials Commemorate Domestic Violence Awareness Month

A southwest Virginia community is raising awareness of the hard realities of relationship abuse. Wise County law enforcement authorities have prosecuted almost 600 domestic crimes since January of 2020. And according to Wise County Commonwealth Attorney Chuck Slemp nearly 200 of those cases were crimes of spousal abuse. On Wednesday Wise County and the City of Norton law enforcement officials gathered in commemoration of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. So far this year, Wise County has processed more than 13 hundred protective orders including emergency orders, preliminary protective orders and child protective orders.