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SALT LAKE CITY — Three people died from domestic violence in West Valley City last year, but as many as 200 more potentially could have, the city's police chief said last Wednesday.
About half of the city's 400 aggravated assaults involved domestic violence last year, West Valley Police Chief Lee Russo explained, voicing support for legislative funding to expand a program that some believe could be the difference between life and death in many cases.
"It literally is saving lives," Russo said. "(It is) giving police officers in the field a tool they can work with where they can make a proactive and immediate referral to a support network that can help a victim develop some level of understanding, and action plan, a security plan, and begin to separate themselves from the victimization they are enduring."
The Lethality Assessment Protocol developed in Russo's home state of Maryland trains officers to ask a series of 11 questions designed to determine in minutes whether a domestic violence victim is at risk for greater violence, and immediately connect that person to help.
The protocol was adopted first individually by a few departments in the state, then was rolled out across four communities as part of a pilot program last fall. Since then, both success from the communities using the assessment and demand from additional areas asking to join has prompted the Utah Domestic Violence Coalition to seek one-time legislative funding to expand.
Advocates and law enforcement officers together petitioned the Social Services Appropriations Subcommittee on Tuesday for $895,000 to train 500 additional law enforcement officials and victim advocates in using the Lethality Assessment Protocol, expanding the program to 18 new police agencies and five victim service providers.
Though law enforcement is raising the loudest demand for the program, the funding does not go to the departments, Russo noted. Instead, it is given to service providers who train their police partners, then bolster their programs to receive the victims that first responders identify.
The West Valley City Police Department pushed to adopt the program early based on its effectiveness and has identified 27 high-risk victims since it implemented the assessment Jan. 1.
Jennifer Campbell, executive director of South Valley Services, became emotional as she explained that since the protocol was put in place in her area, police and advocates together have identified victims who had never been connected to services before.
"We never would have found them without this funding," Campbell said. "When we ask for good advocacy work, we need to provide the capacity to be able to do so, and that's what we're asking for. We're asking to allow our partnerships to exist and to grow and to thrive. We're asking to bring this throughout the state."
In addition to training police officers in West Jordan and later West Valley City, the funding allowed South Valley Services to hire needed case managers and staff, provide care for those seeking immediate shelter, provide hotel vouchers or transport to another location when space was limited and staff phones at all times.
Campbell was especially grateful for the ability to offer immediate shelter to anyone who asked, noting that "those are the worst calls I have had to be on, when I can't find a bed for someone."
In other states, programs like the Lethality Assessment Protocol receive ongoing support from revenue generated through fixed taxes or fees, generally associated with criminal justice or social services, said Jenn Oxborrow, executive director of the Utah Domestic Violence Coalition. While that may be an option in Utah in the future, the focus now is to immediately solidify and expand a program that is successfully addressing a dire need.
"Over the past 10 years, at least 43 percent of all Utah homicides have been perpetrated by an intimate partner. This rate far exceeds the national average," Oxborrow said. "Utah desperately needs the Lethality Assessment Protocol."
Funding recommendations from the subcommittee were expected last Friday.
Help for people in abusive relationships can be found by contacting the YWCA's Women in Jeopardy program at 801-537-8600, or the statewide Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-897-LINK (5465).
