Money will help form special response team
By: Lea Kahn
Hoping to set up a special team to respond to domestic
violence incidents, township officials are applying for a grant from the
state Division of Criminal Justice’s State Office of Victim-Witness
Advocacy.
Township Council agreed to seek the state grant at its
regular meeting Tuesday night. State lawmakers have set aside $250,000 to
be distributed among police departments seeking to set up domestic violence
response teams.
Police responded to 190 domestic violence calls in 1999,
and to 200 domestic violence calls in 1998, according to Lawrence Township
Police Department records.
"Every town is required to have a volunteer team to work
with domestic violence victims and their families. Since it is being
required, the state is offering grants (to pay for the training),"
Municipal Manager William Guhl said.
The domestic violence response team will be made up of
civilians, Mr. Guhl said. The victims and their families are more likely to
open up to civilians than to the police, because police officers can be
intimidating, he said.
Township officials will work with Womanspace, an agency
that deals with abused women, to develop the program and to help recruit
civilian volunteers for the response team, Mr. Guhl said.
Civilian volunteers will undergo a 40-hour training
course, he said. They will be trained to deal with domestic violence
issues, the victim and the victim’s family. The team can console the victim
and inform the victim of his or her rights.
Councilman Mark Holmes said he is glad the township is
going to create its own domestic violence response team. Every municipality
should be moving in that direction, he said.