New Guidelines Treat Domestic Violence Like Any Other Crime

Under new guidelines for prosecuting domestic violence, there is one question police will no longer will ask battered spouses: “Do you want to press charges?”

The new countywide guidelines take responsibility away from the victims, who are often too afraid to press charges, and give it to law enforcement officials to decide whether a case should be prosecuted.

“It’s a crime whether the victim wants it prosecuted or not,” said Ashley Walker-Hooper, co-chair of the San Diego County Task Force on Domestic Violence.

In the past, some abusers have gone unchecked because incidents were not reported by police or not prosecuted when victims refused to press charges, said Casey Gwinn, supervisor of the Domestic Violence Unit for the city attorney’s office and another co-chair of the task force.

Women often decide not to press charges because they fear retaliation, don’t want to put their husband or boyfriend in jail for fear of losing their financial support, or because they simply don’t want to get involved, authorities say.

Gwinn and law enforcement members of the task force developed a set of guidelines, which they call a protocol, to be used uniformly throughout the county. The goal is to treat a domestic violence case like any other crime: If the evidence is there, prosecute.

For the abusers, getting caught can be the first step in stopping, say people who work with battered women.

“If they don’t get arrested, they think they can get away with it,” said Carolyn Ford, shelter director for the YWCA’s Battered Women’s Services.

Last year, 15,417 cases of domestic violence were reported in San Diego County, 6,138 of those in San Diego, said Roni Brodeth, a researcher for the San Diego Assn. of Governments.

The task force, representing about 100 agencies countywide, was set up in June, 1989, to combat escalating domestic violence.

Such violence includes abuse between husbands and wives, people who are dating and people involved in homosexual relationships, Gwinn said. About 98% of the abusers in domestic violence cases are men, he said.

The guidelines, announced last week, were unanimously approved earlier this month by county law enforcement agencies, which will put them into practice over the next 60 days.

Although arrests and prosecution in domestic violence cases are at the heart of the task force’s work, setting up standard procedures for emergency dispatchers and officers who have initial contact with the victims have also been included.

There have been incidents in which 911 operators have not dispatched police as quickly as they should have when a domestic-violence call for help came in, the task force found.

“We hear 911 tapes every day where we hear them say to the victim, ‘Do you want to press charges?’ ” Gwinn said. “That’s a stupid question; it doesn’t matter if the victim wants to press charges.”

The new guidelines say that, like police, 911 operators must concentrate on victim safety and not the legal future of the complaint.

“Any comment or statement which seeks to place the responsibility for enforcement action with the victim is inappropriate,” the protocol says.

Gwinn cites a domestic violence case in Los Angeles to emphasize the importantance of reacting quickly to spousal abuse calls.

About a year ago, a woman called 911 saying her husband was going to kill her. The 911 dispatcher told her they couldn’t send anyone out until the husband showed up. About 25 minutes later, the man showed up and shot the woman to death, along with three of her relatives.

“911 should have told (her) to get out of the house, to go hide,” Gwinn said.

The guidelines also set forth a “pro-arrest policy,” meaning that making an arrest and taking a suspected offender to jail is the preferred action whenever possible.

A checklist has been set up to help officers collect evidence and investigators follow up.

Although many domestic violence arrests involve felonies, a vast majority of the cases end up being prosecuted as misdemeanors to keep the courts from being overloaded.

“It would bury the court system,” Gwinn said.

But he said prosecuting cases as misdemeanors has proven effective because it gets the justice system involved. An offender will usually serve some time in jail, go through a long-term counseling program and be required to do public service work.

Domestic violence is also one of a handful of misdemeanors in which an offender can be taken to jail.

Despite jail crowding, misdemeanor domestic violence suspects that warrant jailing will continue to be booked into county jails because a court order mandates it, said Assistant Sheriff Ken Wigginton, who is in charge of detention services in the county. Felony suspects are automatically booked.

Domestic violence can be considered a felony if a victim suffers injuries that require medical treatment and a misdemeanor if no treatment was necessary, Gwinn said.

He said he is adamant about pursuing incidents of domestic violence more aggressively, noting that of the 22 domestic violence homicides last year, all involved prior misdemeanor incidents.

“When somebody says it’s just a misdemeanor, they don’t know what they’re talking about,” Gwinn said. “It’s a warning sign of a possible homicide.”

Law enforcers countywide are working out plans to implement the task force’s guidelines by circulating them to supervisors and officers and giving short presentations.

“The most important thing is that we’ll all be doing it the same way,” said Cmdr. Myron Klippert of the county Sheriff’s Department.