Report: Md. domestic abuse deaths down
According to data, domestic abuse-related deaths in Maryland have apparently been cut down by 50%, from about 60-70 to 30-35. Michele Hughes of the Life Crisis Center tells 47 ABC the Lethality Assessment Program, created in 2005, is saving lives by identifying high-risk scenarios and acting fast to protect victims.
“when you cut the death rate in half from a particular crime, that’s significant” Said Hughes. “we’ve shown that it works,”
The program is mandatory for Maryland State Police but not for other agencies. It asks first responders to fill out a screening form after arriving on scene. Based on the answers provided, victims could receive immediate access to protection services like the life crisis center or the Mid-Shore Council on Family Violence. According to the Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence 2015 annual report, on the Eastern Shore, of 390 victim-initiated hotline calls 266 were referred to counseling and recovery therapy, some were also provided lodging in a confidential location. As for Wicomico County, 64% of victim-initiated calls were referred to similar services which are free-of-charge for victims.
Hughes told 47 ABC, “That’s very encouraging. What says is that almost two thirds of calls by the police resulted in someone getting help.”
The program helps victims and and groups like life crisis do their jobs. We’re told that’s also the case with law enforcement. It adds a little bit of extra work, but Salisbury PD Captain Cheryl Rantz tells us that it streamlines the process.
“it is a lot better now. We do have other resources whereas we can call life crisis and they can find other places for victims to go. Prior to that we were relying a lot on family members to step in.”
Rantz tells us that officers are all trained by the life crisis center on how to approach a domestic abuse call with the victim in mind. She says with the program in place now some cases don’t fall through the cracks. She tells 47 ABC that in January the department saw a rather high number of domestic abuse calls.
“we received 65 calls for domestic violence. Not all of them turned out to be, but that’s the way we have to respond to calls, and we require every domestic violence call that comes in, at least two officers go.”
This Maryland-native LAP program is currently in 34 states including Delaware and Virginia.
If you feel that you are or may become a victim of domestic violence contact the Life Crisis Center at 410-749-4357.
