Calgary police buoyed by drop in domestic violence charges

I’m glad to hear that the complaints are rising slightly, may mean more victims are getting reached and reaching out for help!  I like that they have gotten social workers involved with the team, and think it would be great to add in Domestic Violence Advocates to that team to make it more rounded.  Other areas have been seeing good outcomes when building such teams, and I pray that it’s the same for Calgary.

Complaints rise slightly, according to new data

By Jason van Rassel, Calgary Herald March 5, 2012

CALGARY — Domestic violence continues to exact a high toll on society, but in Calgary there are signs more people are seeking help before it’s too late.

In 2011, the number of domestic complaints received by Calgary police climbed to approximately 16,500 — an increase of more than 4.5 per cent over the 15,789 recorded the previous year.

While that statistic points to a high number of families in conflict, police and agencies that work in the domestic violence field say there’s reason for optimism because the number of criminal charges arising from those incidents is going down.

“After a dozen years of working on this thing, maybe we’re finally making a difference,” said Kevin McNichol of HomeFront Calgary, the coalition of police, prosecutors and local agencies behind a specialized court that hears domestic violence cases.

Calgary police laid 3,772 criminal charges while responding to domestic calls in 2011, down from 4,044 charges the year before.

Authorities in Calgary have worked for years to bring police, prosecutors and local agencies together in a coordinated effort to reduce domestic violence.

Established in 2000, the domestic violence court works to break the cycle of abuse by offering treatment to perpetrators who are willing to change and jailing the ones who aren’t, while at the same time ensuring shelter, protection and support for victims and children.

When it first began hearing cases, between 30 and 35 per cent of defendants would go on to face a new accusation of domestic violence. The recidivism rate among domestic abusers eligible for the specialized court now sits at about 12 per cent, McNichol said.

Despite some encouraging signs, domestic violence continues to kill people — most recently 33-year-old Andrea Conroy, who was stabbed to death in her Airdrie home by ex-boyfriend Richard Doucette.

Doucette later killed himself in a Nanton hotel room.

The RCMP had no reports of trouble between the couple, but Doucette had a long history of violence.

Doucette, 41, spent time in prison for the attempted murder of a girlfriend in the 1990s and had two more recent convictions in Calgary for assaults on another woman.

Historically, domestic homicides have accounted for just over 25 per cent of killings in Calgary.

Of 364 reported homicides in Calgary since 1992, 97 involved a spouse, intimate partner or family member who either committed the crime or stands accused of it.

As is the case generally with domestic violence, perpetrators and suspected killers in those family homicides are mostly male: 74 men, compared to 23 women.

Although only one of Calgary’s 11 homicides in 2011 involved domestic violence, police are still dealing with thousands of cases and local women’s shelters are often running at capacity.

“We’re super busy,” said Staff Sgt. John Guigon of the domestic conflict unit, which reviews all domestic calls handled by police and becomes involved in cases deemed to be a higher risk.

Guigon credits a pilot project that employs police and social workers to steer families toward community resources before their domestic crises become more serious with cutting the caseload (see sidebar above), but it’s still a significant one.

“How do we fix that? I really wish I had a really good answer,” he said.

Like McNichol, Guigon said the lower number of criminal charges resulting from those police visits may be a sign families are seeking help sooner.

“I think it’s getting easier for people to talk about it,” he said.

While Calgary may be finally seeing results from its collaborative efforts, smaller communities often can’t offer the same.

Some municipalities have their own specialized courts and the RCMP has teams of domestic violence investigators at some larger detachments, but those resources don’t exist in many communities.

“In some ways it’s a postal-code lottery, depending on where you live,” said Jan Reimer, provincial co-ordinator for the Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters.

Many communities don’t have the population to support the same resources as cities like Calgary, Reimer acknowledged — but she added they are still lagging behind in more basic areas, such as shelter spaces.

Reimer’s organization is one of many in the domestic violence field pushing for the Alberta government to establish a body that would examine each domestic homicide and make recommendations.

“There could be a great deal to learn,” she said.

jvanrassel@calgaryherald.com Twitter:@JasonvanRassel

Domestic Violence Task Force: Strengthen Stalking Laws, Restraining Orders

By JOSH KOVNER, jkovner@courant.com

6:46 p.m. EST, February 27, 2012

HARTFORD – —

There were 12 domestic-violence slayings last year in Connecticut; down slightly from the 10-year average of 16.

But anti-violence advocates drew no solace from those statistics. The number of new domestic violence cases hitting the court system last year held steady at about 37,000 – roughly a third of all criminal matters. Against this backdrop, the legislature's 3-year-old Domestic Violence Task Force on Monday announced its 2012 agenda – 20 recommended bills to help further protect victims, punish offenders more meaningfully, and intervene earlier in the lives of children and at-risk families.

House Speaker Chris Donovan and state Sen. John A. Kissel (R-Enfield), said there's bipartisan support for the bills, which include strengthening restraining orders, bolstering stalking laws, expanding services to children who witness violence, and pushing the court system to set up more domestic-violence dockets that concentrate exclusively on family crimes.

Karen Jarmoc, executive director of the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said she doesn't take that political support for granted. She said police, prosecutors, politicians and advocates work better together here than in many other states.

Rep, Mae Flexer, D-Killingly, chairwoman of the task force, said the reforms implemented since 2009 represent the most progress on the domestic-violence front since Torrington's Tracey Thurman took a stand against apathy and won mandatory-arrest laws and other landmark changes in 1986.

But budgetary pressure has blunted some of the improvements. The judicial branch in 2010 used $140,000 in federal stimulus money for GPS tracking devices for repeat domestic-violence offenders in Hartford, New Haven, and Danielson. The technology led to quicker notification of protective-order violations – but the money ran out last year.

Flexer said the task force is trying to find a new source of funding. Since domestic violence cuts across all economic tiers, it may be possible to charge a fee to those offenders who require GPS monitoring, Donovan said.

The task force is also pushing for more standardized training on domestic-violence response among town, city, and state police.

In 16 percent of the cases, both people involved in an incident are arrested. Advocates view these "dual arrests'' as an "unintended consequence'' of the mandatory arrest laws, which removed discretion from police. Advocates would like police arrest policies to place a greater emphasis on self-defense, which might reduce the number of times the victim is arrested along with the instigator.

Other recommendations include extending from six months to a year the time that a restraining can stay in place, thereby limiting the number of times a victim has to come to court to seek to renew it; preserving the funding for around-the-clock staffing of shelters; and notifying victims when a case has been nolled or dismissed, or when an offender's probation has been violated or the conditions of release have been changed.

Original Article

Domestic violence task force proposes changes

By Connecticut General Assembly House Democrats

Feb 27, 2012 - 6:03 PM

Speaker of the House Christopher G. Donovan (D-Meriden) joined members of the Speaker’s Task Force on Domestic Violence, led by State Representative Mae Flexer (D-Killingly, Plainfield, Sterling), today in proposing a number of steps the legislature could take to better assist victims of domestic violence and their families.

“The task force’s recommendations build on a multi-year, bipartisan effort to improve our state’s response to domestic violence,” said Speaker Donovan. “This year's recommendations focus on making the system simpler to navigate. When a victim works up the courage to call police or leave her home, we want to make sure services are in place to support that decision. That's why our legislative priorities will focus on making it easier to get a restraining order and report a violation to police, keeping the victim informed of an offender's status, and improving law enforcement’s ability to respond to domestic violence calls.”

“We took a comprehensive look at police policies, arrest standards, and protective order enforcement—none of which had been seriously reviewed for over 25 years,” said Rep. Flexer. “Implementing a statewide model policy will better prepare our law enforcement for domestic violence situations and most importantly it will help better protect victims.”

Chief among the group’s recommendations is implementing enhanced training standards to improve police response on domestic violence calls. Although municipal police officers and state troopers are required to receive domestic violence training—they do not all receive the same training. The task force is recommending that the state create one uniform policy that all of Connecticut’s law enforcement agencies will use when responding to incidents of family violence and violations of protective orders.

Currently, 16% of domestic violence calls in Connecticut result in dual arrest—meaning both parties are arrested. Rep. Flexer said that the dual arrests are an inadvertent result of tougher state laws requiring the police to arrest anyone they believe to have broken the law when called to the scene of a domestic violence incident.

The proposed statewide model policy more clearly explains self defense guidelines to police officers, which would help prevent the arrest of victims going forward.

The task force is also proposing improvements to civil restraining and criminal protective orders, including clarifying state law to allow minors to obtain restraining orders. Although minors are not currently prohibited from obtaining orders, the task force learned that minors have had trouble obtaining orders from some courts.

Presently, victims must return to court to renew restraining orders at least once every 180 days where they are often forced to interact with their offenders. The task force would like to extend the maximum length of restraining orders to one year so victims are no longer forced to encounter their abuser as frequently, potentially putting their safety in jeopardy.

“In our continuing efforts to reduce and prevent domestic violence, the task force has come up with another set of solid recommendations that are deserving of broad bi-partisan support,” said State Representative Clark Chapin (R-New Milford), a member of the task force. “For those recommendations that require legislative action over the next 10 weeks, I look forward to helping in moving them through the process.”

The task force is also recommending expanding the bail commissioner’s ability to provide for victim safety by requiring that bail commissioners evaluate safety as a matter of release. This will hopefully prevent future tragedies like the death of Milford’s Cathy Fox. Last August Cathy Fox was stabbed to death by her estranged husband after he posted $1,000 bond—despite the prosecutor recommending that the offender not be released.

They are also proposing improved notification for victims when a nolle or dismissal is entered in a case, when an offender violates probation or when the terms of an offender's probation are altered. This change would enable the victims to alter their safety plans. Changes in court proceedings or probation can be precipitating factors for additional violence.

Understanding that students are often victims of intimate partner abuse, the task force is also calling for a copy of protective and restraining orders to be sent to any school the victim attends, and to require defendants who attend the same school as their victims remain the prescribed distance from the victim while at school.

“The Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence—the state's leading voice for victims of domestic violence and those who serve them—is pleased to support the comprehensive recommendations of the task force which serve to strengthen communication, training, and systems aimed at helping victims,” sais Karen Jarmoc, the Executive Director of the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence. “In a given year, our statewide coalition and its member programs serve more than 54,000 victims of domestic violence. Clearly, domestic violence is a problem in Connecticut and these proposed statutory and policy changes will stridently improve Connecticut's response.”
Although the task force secured funding to keep all of the state’s emergency domestic violence shelters open 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the last two years, Rep. Flexer is concerned there could be proposals put forth to slash funding.

“Although these are trying economic times and everyone is looking at ways to trim our state budget, we cannot balance the budget at the expense of endangering victims and their families. We must maintain funding for 24/7 staffing levels at domestic violence shelters,” said Rep. Flexer.

The task force, created by Speaker Donovan in 2009 and led by Rep. Flexer since its creation, has led the effort over the past few years to enact stronger and tougher laws to prevent violence against women and assist victims of domestic violence. The new laws include improved enforcement of protective orders, funding for 24/7 staffing at domestic violence shelters, requiring certain high-risk offenders to surrender their firearms to police, and reforming the bail bond process making it more difficult for offenders to be released back into the community quickly.

Additional information about the task force and the full report can be found on its web site at http://www.housedems.ct.gov/DV.

Original Article