City Beat

City steps up efforts to put an end to domestic violence

'We've come a long way,' police say, but add that 'there's still a long way to go'

By Chantal Lamers

The effort to curb domestic violence is growing in San Jose. A year-old Domestic Violence Response Team pilot project may go citywide if council members approve funding in its 2000-2001 Proposed Operating Budget process this summer.

The project was launched in an unspecified council district in March 1999, and later expanded to include a second unspecified district. The coordinators of the project--which was initiated by San Jose District 8 Councilwoman Alice Woody, the San Jose Police Family Violence unit and Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence--want to take steps to improve the project.

The project aims to provide victims of abuse with follow-up counseling services within 24 to 48 hours following an incident and the filing of Emergency Protective Orders. The team would also include patrol officers trained to respond to domestic violence reports, while maintaining victims' confidentiality rights.

If the DVRT is implemented citywide, it may publicize the project to increase awareness of its services.

The first DVRT follow-up stated that 67 percent of victims who used services placed an Emergency Protective Order against the suspect; about 99 percent of victims who used DVRT requested follow-up services; and about 20 percent decided to attend group counseling following DVRT interaction.

According to the San Jose Police Department, about 6,500 cases of domestic violence are reported in the city annually. Victims are often abused eight to 20 times before reporting the crime to police. Victims usually leave their spouse eight times before leaving permanently, police reported.

The SJPD Family Violence Unit's Lt. Gary Johnson said that, with the victim's consent, police call in a counselor immediately following a domestic violence report or arrest. The new program will offer the victim up to 48 hours to receive one-on-one counseling.

Johnson said hundreds of children are victims of domestic violence. "Right now we're raising a whole new generation of abusers," Johnson said. "We want to break that cycle."

He said the program is a big step in ending spousal abuse. Johnson said that in the 1970s police didn't treat domestic violence as a crime. He said it wasn't until the late 1980s that police recommended that spousal abuse be treated as an arrest-worthy crime. Today, if legal grounds permit, police can make an arrest without the victim's consent. "We've come a long way," Johnson said. "We've got a long way to go."

Before council members voted unanimously to refer a $179,000 proposal for budgeting DVRT at its May 9 meeting. Woody said the project will likely allow victims to feel safer when reporting spousal abuse.

Woody said the program will continue to provide services that will help stop violence throughout the community. But, she interjected, this is just the beginning of the program. She said domestic violence victims still need emergency shelter, counseling and follow-up legal services.

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