New program to aid victims of domestic violence

The first time Gina called the police to report that her husband was threatening her life, she says that they blamed her for his behavior.

Gina said that she lived in another state at the time of the call, which took place more than 15 years ago.

When the police officers, who were male, arrived "they said, 'well, you must have done something to make him that mad,'" she said, adding that one of the officers suggested that she was passive aggressive.

"And I thought, if my own police aren't gonna protect me, then I'm on my own," she said.

Ultimately, Gina was married for almost two decades, and more than half of those years were "very difficult," she said. She eventually left the relationship in 2016.

Were she to call for help in the coming months, however, the police response should be markedly different. Gaston County is starting a new program − the DA-LE, or Danger Assessment for Law Enforcement program − in which police will ask victims of domestic violence 11 key questions about their experience to figure out if there is a history of violence and identify victims who are at risk of being killed or nearly killed by their partners, District Attorney Travis Page said.

The questions police ask will touch upon the frequency of the physical abuse, the level of control the abuser has over the survivor, whether or not the abuser has tried to kill the survivor or threatened to do so, whether or not the abuser has ever strangled the survivor, and more. The survivor's answers will provide additional information that prosecutors can then use in court to ask for a higher bond for those charged.

Based on how they answer the questions, survivors may be identified as high risk and connected to resources designed to help them.

"You know, everything for me starts at home. We know from studies that children who grow up in homes with drug abuse, domestic violence, those children are more likely to repeat those behaviors as they get older," Page said. "But there's also some significant health effects too: those children are more likely to experience obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, all these other health effects that we don't think of and that we see throughout our country."

Page said that domestic violence is one area where he felt his office could improve. The goal of the questions police will ask is to prevent murders and other serious crimes.

"I want to make the homes of Gaston County a safer place, a better place for our children," he said. "Today's bruises could be tomorrow's homicide."

Page hopes that the program will be implemented among Gaston County's law enforcement agencies by January.

Tara Joyner, director of Hope United Survivor Network, said that the questions are designed to "raise the bar" on the harm.

"Those tell us that things are escalating, and that's another sign. Nobody knows their partner better than the survivor," Joyner said.

"Just a few years ago, we were not asking about strangulation because we all kind of captured it into an assault," she added. "When you pick apart that certain piece and when you ask, 'were you ever strangled,' and they stop and think about it and say yes, we have the opportunity to provide the education.'

"We feel very strongly about this work being preventative but also providing the appropriate level of response for both the victim and the offender," she said.

Joyner said that she doesn't know of any other county in the state that has implemented the program.

Page said that in cases where nobody is criminally prosecuted, survivors of domestic violence may take out a restraining order against their abuser. As part of the DA-LE program, domestic violence advocates would be trained to screen those women as well, expanding the scope of the program beyond criminal court.

"There are a lot of cases that come through this courthouse that the district attorney's office will not see because they may seek a civil restraining order," Page said. "Those matters are generally civil, and they may not encounter law enforcement."

Had the police Gina encountered years ago been using the DA-LE, she said her answers to those 11 questions would have placed her in a high-risk category.

"I think it's going to make a huge difference to know that there are safe places. There's people who are educated. We have more advocates than we've ever had before," Gina said.

"If I would have known how many different areas of the county cared about me when I was going through it, I think it would have made a big difference."

You can reach Kara Fohner at 704-869-1850 or email her at KFohner@Gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: New Gaston County court program to aid victims of domestic violence