Police in Greene to receive specialized training to help domestic violence victims
Police in Greene County will have new resources to assess the level of danger to victims when responding to domestic violence calls.
Maggie Novotny, senior director of operations at Domestic Violence Services of Southwestern Pennsylvania (DVSSP), said the Domestic Violence Lethality Assessment Program trains police to give an 11-question screening to potential victims of domestic violence.
“When they arrive on the scene of a domestic violence situation, these questions can determine the level of danger,” Novotny said.
For example, a question such as, “Have you ever been threatened with a weapon?” indicates to officers, though there might not be a weapon involved in this situation, there has been in the past.
Then, Novotny said, officers will connect those they believe are vulnerable to harm with resources that can help them.
“Once the officer knows we have a high danger here, they can get in touch with our local domestic violence agency and we take just a few minutes to go through safety plan information, shelter services and other things they may not have known,” Novotny said. “Ideally, the survivor who spoke to us now knows who we are and it’s more likely they’ll reach out in the future.”
The program was developed by the Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence organization and Dr. Jacquelyn Campbell after discovering only 4% of domestic violence homicide victims had contacted a hotline, shelter or program prior to being killed.
According to the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, by the end of 2018, the program had been implemented in 48 counties and 332 police departments. Since 2012, nearly 9,000 victims have accessed domestic violence program services within the month they were screened.
“We are able to see at the end of the month if someone has reached out after the screening process,” Novotny said. “Our goal is to keep training more officers, offer refreshers for those new to the department and to continue submitting a monthly report so we can see those results in the long run.”
The program will be funded by $10,000 in Act 13 funds, approved by the Greene County commissioners during their Feb. 22 meeting.
For more information about the DVSSP, visit https://www.peacefromdv.org/. The 24-hour helpline is 1800-791-4000.