| San
Francisco Domestic Violence
Ask
any San Francisco police officer what is the number
one crime they are called upon to remediate and one
might expect the response to be murder, rape, robbery,
or arson. Think again. " San Francisco Domestic Violence is the number
one call they get," said victims' advocate, Ken
Theisen. Last year, there were nearly 10,000 calls San Francisco Domestic Violence
in San Francisco. And forty-percent of those calls were
weapons-related calls. Under dogged criticism of inadequate
response to this epidemic, the San Francisco Police
Commission in 1995 approved a specialized police San Francisco Domestic Violence
unit consisting of six officers who handle only San Francisco Domestic Violence
cases. Since its creation, San Francisco Domestic Violence offenses recorded
by the police department have nearly doubled. In 1990,
there were 1,829 offenses reported. In 1996, there were
3,359 reports. In response to the increased demand for
responding to and following up on these crimes, the
San Francisco Domestic Violence unit, overrun with cases, increased its size
from six to 20 investigators within a year.
Today,
the San Francisco Domestic Violence unit follows up on every call for San Francisco Domestic Violence
in San Francisco after a regular patrol report. Some
of the improvements mean life and death differences
in the way officers intervene in lethal situations.
Police now remove guns for 72 hours from homes where
San Francisco Domestic Violence is reported. They also have quicker access
to emergency protective orders which are temporary restraining
orders that a police officer can get at the scene of
a crime by calling a judge. The order lasts 5-7 days.
Officers issued only three restraining orders out of
9,286 calls for San Francisco Domestic Violence in 1992. Officers now issue
over 1,800 a year because they have been trained on
how to easily obtain them. Theisen, who was involved
in the protective order training, said, "Police
have been outstanding, once they got the training."
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In
addition, the San Francisco Domestic Violence unit benefits
from outreach work done by domestic violence services
provider, Woman Inc. Woman Inc. started a program where
outreach workers go out with the domestic violence officers
to give referrals to victims. "We provide crisis
support services to victims of San Francisco Domestic
Violence at the scene of the crime," said outreach
worker, Roslyn Sledge. "We provide a shelter or
emergency housing when shelter is not available."
Sledge explained they get paged by different police
stations throughout the city. There are two outreach
workers who go out with inspectors from the San Francisco
Domestic Violence unit to follow up the regular patrol's
reports. She said they manage to cover all the calls.
"The inspectors that we work with are excellent,"
she stated. "They're very good with victims."
The
District Attorney's Office has set up a separate unit
for San Francisco Domestic Violence cases. They now have individual assistant
district attorneys assigned to follow cases from start
to finish. In the past, many different assistant district
attorneys would handle a case. This year Hallinan hired
four new attorneys to add to the domestic violence unit.
The new attorneys are trained for San Francisco Domestic Violence prosecutions.
Results are in. "Prosecutions have doubled,"
said Breall. The DA's office has hired more victims'
advocates at the Family Violence Project. Advocates
there help victims make it to court to testify. The
Adult Probation Department has also put together a specialized
unit that consists of seven case workers who handle
only San Francisco Domestic Violence cases. "Cases are much more carefully
supervised," project spokesperson Barbara Brooten
stated. Previously, case workers would have all different
types of cases. Probation officers make certain that
the offender is going to batterer's treatment. Mandatory
batterer's treatment is required for a year for those
convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence charges.
"If anybody violates their probation, we take them
right back to court,"Brooten said.
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