Domestic Violence Getting More Police Attention, Panelists Say

Panelists at a Los Angeles community policing summit Saturday said the Police Department is marshaling more resources to combat domestic violence, noting that LAPD officers get almost twice as much training to handle domestic violence calls than what is required by the state.

Officer Debbie Dresser, who teaches at the Police Academy, told a domestic violence workshop that cadets receive 14 hours of instruction--more than the eight required. Officers also get periodic instruction on the issue.

“Our top priority is maximum protection of the victim,” Dresser said. To that end, Dresser said arrests can be made even if the victim isn’t willing to press charges.

The workshop on domestic violence was one of 12 held during the daylong summit on community policing at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Other sessions dealt with dispute resolution, youth programs, use of lethal weapons and the future of community policing.

Police Chief Willie L. Williams and Joseph E. Brann, head of the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, were among those who welcomed several hundred police officers, members of police-community advisory boards and others to the gathering.

The advisory boards--the linchpin in the community policing process in Los Angeles--are comprised of business leaders and others to help identify community problems and work with officers to stem crime.

Although some ranking police officials said community policing hasn’t taken hold as well as they had hoped, the mood was upbeat at the Convention Center. “Even though arrests are down in the city, I know community policing works,” said Xavier Solana, a Boyle Heights merchant.

At the domestic violence workshop, panelists said a coordinated effort, aided by volunteerism, can reduce violence. But, the speakers admitted, some efforts are still in their infancy.

One effort by a Van Nuys-area crisis intervention center operates only Friday nights, when it sends volunteers out with officers who respond to domestic violence calls.

When a woman asked why more of an effort wasn’t made, she was told more volunteers were needed. Then, the woman, who said she was a victim of domestic violence, promptly volunteered.