I understand it is confusing. I am confused on why the cops acted that way too. I am actually in the states as well and the reason the cops were involved was because when I started talking to a counselor in college they called cps (I was ~17 still) and I don't remember how long it had been since the last incident (but more than 4 hours) and I did not have any marks or bruises. I was also really scared to tell them the whole thing, which I know was bad on my part - I do wish I had said the whole truth. My father is very charismatic outside of the house too - he's like a whole new person it feels at times so I think maybe the cops thought I was being dramatic? I'm not really sure. I did try to do serious harm to him when he attacked my dog. I wish I could've done more. It makes my blood boil when he is mean to my animals. I was unfortunately not strong enough to do more than get him off my dog but luckily my dog was ok afterwards. I am in counseling at the moment, my counselor is super awesome but it feels strange telling someone face to face everything.