Editor’s note: In part two of this two part series, appearing Tuesday, the Star will focus on victim treatment and battery prevention.

DeKALB | There have been 4071 documented cases of battery in DeKalb over the last five years, according DeKalb Police records.

This total, which includes battery, domestic battery, aggravated battery and fighting in the city, averages out to about two to three per day.

The number of battery cases has increased in recent years.

“It ran from 770 cases in lower years to 864 in 2006,” said DeKalb Police Chief Bill Feithen. “So for the last four years there’s been an increase in the number of fights.”

Aggravated battery

“Aggravated battery is if a weapon is used or a battery is committed in a public place,” said Feithen.

Each offense can be translated differently by the courts and the offender can be charged with a greater or lesser sentence. There were fewer cases of the more serious aggravated battery than other types of battery since 2002.

“The statute isn’t used because the court system doesn’t care for that charge. They use battery,” Feithen said.

Domestic battery

According to Illinois law, domestic battery is when a person intentionally or knowingly, without legal justification by any means, causes bodily harm to any family or household member or makes physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature with any family or household member.

Within DeKalb, domestic battery can also take place when a fight breaks out at locations such as a restaurant or the parking lot of a liquor store, Feithen said. The offender will be charged with fighting in the city.

Fighting in the city

“Fighting in city is a city ordinance and is a mail-in offense,” Feithen said. “We administratively handle it, we give them so many days to come in and pay. It doesn’t go to court resulting in no court record.”

When an offender is formally charged with battery, they are processed through the police and the court system.

“If charged with battery, they have to make a court appearance,” Feithen said. “They’ll attend to that, bond out, plead guilty or not guilty and set a trial date.”

There is a stipulation where a trial may be dropped, depending on if the arresting officer is present in court.

“Out here, police officers are not required to appear in court for the plea date where the offender offers a plea of guilty or not guilty,” Feithen said. “If the officer doesn’t show for a court date, they’re suspended. They lose a day’s pay unless they’re sick or there’s a family emergency or schedule conflict.”

If the officer doesn’t make the court date and does not have a good reason, the judge could drop the case, which, according to Feithen, rarely happens.

In more severe cases, battery offenders will go to jail.

“There’s a situation when if [an offender is] charged with a felony they can’t bond out,” Feithen said. “They can’t bond out and will go to county jail. As soon as there is a bond call, they’ll appear before a judge.”