Domestic violence cases rising in Cobb County, District Attorney pushing for change

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Domestic violence cases are increasing at an alarming rate in Cobb County.

The District Attorney told Channel 2′s Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell they’ve gone up nearly 30% since the pandemic.

The DA said a family advocacy center will help protect victims of domestic violence and other crimes.

The resources they need to get away from their abusers and live life day to day knowing they are protected, would be right inside the building.

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“I have been blessed because I lived,” domestic abuse survivor Janet Paulsen said.

Paulsen was barely hanging on to life in 2015.

Two weeks before that day, Paulsen told her husband she wanted a divorce.

“He told me if you think you’re going to divorce me I’ll kill you,” she said.

Paulsen said police removed 73 firearms from the home after she got a protective order. But six days later she was fighting for her life.

“He ambushed me outside the house,” she said.

“I heard pop, pop, pop and I felt stinging in my abdomen. I knew that I’d been shot,” She continued. “He shot me in the leg and I kept going, but then he shot me in my other leg and I fell over in the middle of my driveway.”

Paulsen’s husband shot her six times, then killed himself.

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“We’ve had a spike in domestic violence since COVID hit,” Cobb County District Attorney Flynn Broady said.

The number of cases that make it to his desk is alarming.

“Even a 25% increase is very alarming,” he told Channel 2 Action News.

Broady’s team believes the Cobb Family Advocacy Center will help victims.

“If you are being abused or if you are a victim and you can’t report the crime for whatever reason this is still a place you can come to get the helps you need to survive,” Broady said.

“Victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, elderly abuse, trafficking and any other type of crime can come and receive services out of one central location,” said Kim McCoy, Director of Victim Witness Unit for District Attorney.

Broady is hoping to open the center sometime this spring. His team needs additional funding to make the place fully operational.

Cobb County Board of Commissioners will vote on it at the end of February.

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