PORTLAND – While many Maine residents earlier this week gathered to remember those who have died while serving in the nation’s armed services, a small group of people met in Portland to remember those who died as a result of domestic violence.

Attorney General Steven Rowe and Commissioner of Public Safety Michael Cantara were among those who attended the vigil. Cantara said statistics and anecdotal evidence show a rise in domestic violence in the state.

Data from the Department of Public Safety show the number of domestic violence assaults reported in Maine increased by more than 11 percent in 2003, and they accounted for 47 percent of the murders reported in the state.

“It has long been time – and I think this event serves as a benchmark – to ask as a state why these beatings occur,” Cantara said.

Family and friends of Maine’s most recent victim of domestic violence, Lisa Deprez, also spoke at the vigil in the parking lot of the Peoples Regional Opportunity Program on Cumberland Avenue.

Police say Deprez died May 16 at Maine Medical Center from injuries suffered in an attack by her former boyfriend, Gregory Erskine. She was 42.

Erskine is charged with her murder.

Deprez’s son Peter Morrison is on leave from the Army National Guard’s 133rd Engineer Battalion, which is currently stationed in Iraq. He said it was time for the government to be as pro-active about domestic violence as it is in matters of war.

“The reason we fight is to make sure people are safe in their homes,” he said.

Ronald Deprez, an uncle, said the state needs to change the way it sets bail for people being held on domestic violence charges, and do a better job of tracking repeat offenders.

Shalom Odokara, executive director of Women In Need, Inc., joined many speakers in saying domestic violence is a community issue that requires a community response.

Ray Hider, of Portland, was a close friend of Deprez. He called on the state to change the judicial system, but said changes must also be made in neighborhoods and at home.

“I’ve got a young son,” he said. “And he has to know that this type of thing is just unacceptable.”