New Program Brings Team to Aid Victims of Domestic Violence

With reports of domestic violence rising at a phenomenal pace, the Oxnard Police Department soon will inaugurate an innovative program for aiding victims of one of the most chronic of crimes.

By early February, a Domestic Violence Elimination Team--consisting of a reserve officer and one or two trained volunteers--will accompany officers on domestic dispute calls two nights a week.

After an arrest, the team will stay to work with the victim, in most cases a woman.

“We’ll be there to get an emergency restraining order, take the victim to a shelter, make arrangements for her kids, give her referrals to other agencies and help her through the judicial system,” Sgt. Cliff Troy said. “Whatever she needs, we’ll take care of it. We’ll be a resource--kind of like the Yellow Pages of domestic violence.”

Team members, who have already received 40 hours of training and most of whom are bilingual, will work out of the Southwinds storefront police station and serve the entire city. The new service will be paid for with a $20,000 state grant. Expenses are expected to remain low because of the use of volunteers.

The Ventura Police Department is considering a similar domestic violence team, and several other law enforcement agencies in the county are intrigued by the concept.

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Although domestic violence has always existed, victims have become more likely to seek protection and help, according to Sylvia McGinnis, executive director of the Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, a nonprofit agency serving Ventura County.

“The O.J. Simpson trial helped bring domestic violence out of the closet, raising its visibility and people’s awareness of it,” McGinnis said.

In 1990, there were 2,733 calls for assistance related to domestic violence across the county, according to statistics gathered by Interface Family and Children Services, a county nonprofit agency. But in 1994, that figure skyrocketed to 5,285.

During that same period in Oxnard, the number of domestic violence calls almost doubled, rising from 740 to 1,426.

The increase in calls proved to be a major burden to police officers.

“On a busy night, we get a lot of calls and only have a limited amount of time,” said Officer Mike Trotter, who helped develop the intervention program with Interface.

“Officers make the arrests, but I feel that care for the victims is lacking. They need someone to stay at the scene to talk to them and help walk them through the system. . . . A shoulder to lean on.”

Oxnard is waiting on another grant that, if approved, would pay for the team to run about six days a week.

The $200,000 grant would also pay to hire a probation officer and deputy district attorney to work exclusively on domestic violence cases in Oxnard.

“It’s a multifaceted, holistic approach,” Troy said. “The [team] would help solve the immediate problems, and the D.A. and probation department would be brought in to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

The Oxnard Domestic Violence Elimination Team is based on a similar program devised by the Los Angeles Police Department in Van Nuys.

“We needed to do something to free up officers and offer victims better service,” said LAPD Det. Mitch Robbins, who helped start the program about 18 months ago. “Instead of just taking a crime report and leaving, we provide some immediate in-home domestic violence counseling.”

The program has made a difference in Van Nuys, Robbins said.

“We’re getting better incident interviews, better testimony and more felony convictions.”

And it’s saving police precious time.

“Every time our team rolls in to a scene, we’re saving a minimum of one hour of patrol time,” Robbins said.

Trotter and Barbara Marquez O’Neill, a social worker with Interface, visited Van Nuys and liked what they saw.

“Many victims are reluctant to talk with police in uniforms, but they seem far more relaxed speaking to volunteers [in plain clothes],” O’Neill said.

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This reluctance to talk often leads battered women to abandon cases against their abusers, said Ventura Assistant Chief Ken Thompson.

“A lot of times, victims don’t understand the legal system and withdraw their testimony because they are intimidated by it,” Thompson said.

Ventura police are waiting to see whether a $120,000 grant is approved to start a similar program of their own. Their response team would use trained volunteers from the coalition, as well as paid, non-sworn officers. The grant would also pay for a new domestic violence investigator.

Several other law enforcement agencies, including Simi Valley, the county Sheriff’s Department and Port Hueneme, have expressed interest in trying the new approach to helping domestic violence victims.

“We’re definitely interested,” Port Hueneme Sgt. Jerry Beck said. “Our job isn’t just to arrest the offender, but to assist the victims and empower them. We need to break the cycle of violence.”