The police bulletin for Polog covering one night reads like a list. Not like a case - like a list.

14 August, 14:15, Tetovo. Police arrested I.D. (44) after a report from his 41-year-old wife. Following a verbal argument he attacked her physically, made threats, and once she had sustained injuries - he would not let her seek medical help. That detail is the heavy part of the report: not just the assault, but the blocking of the trip to a doctor.

An hour later, 15:15, the same town. M.R. (50) arrested after a report from his wife and daughter. After an argument in the yard he attacked the woman physically, then threatened both of them if they reported him to the police. They reported him.

17:00, the village of Forino. J.A. (51) detained after a report from his nephew V.A. (26) that, over unresolved family disputes, he physically attacked him and his father.

23:00, Ilindenska Street in Tetovo. Sh.I. (52) arrested after a report from his son A.I. (26), who said his father had threatened him with a sharp object.

Four arrests in nine hours, in one region

That is Polog alone, and one day alone. The same evening, at 10pm, in the Demir Kapija region police arrested G.S. (46) - according to the report he threatened his 41-year-old wife, then physically attacked his 23-year-old son and began smashing things in the house. A public prosecutor was informed and the man was taken to a medical facility.

In every case the same wording follows: "after documenting the case, an appropriate submission will follow against him". That is the end of every statement. And that is the point at which public information stops.

The report came in. What happens next?

Each of these five cases contains something the statistics rarely capture: the victim or a family member called. The wife from Tetovo, the daughter, the nephew, the son. Not one of these five cases was uncovered by chance - people dialled the number and the police came out.

What does not get published is what happens afterwards. How many of those "appropriate submissions" end in a protection order, how many in a suspended sentence, how many quietly fade because the woman who reported it withdrew. We know the time of arrest to the minute; we do not know the outcome even approximately.

And with the wife from Tetovo there is one more layer. Her husband, according to the report, stopped her from going for medical help - meaning the injury existed without a document to prove it. When documenting a physical injury depends on whether your attacker lets you get examined, the evidence procedure starts with the advantage on the side of the person who threw the punch.

The numbers in the bulletin are public. The numbers on what became of them are not. And that is the difference between reporting and answering.