By sandi carpello
Staff Writer
MONROE — A state police-sponsored Crisis Response Team for domestic violence cases will be launched in the township early next month.
The team is being started under the requirements of the recently amended state Victims of Crimes Act, said Monroe Response Team Supervisor and Police Lt. Paul Banach.
According to the State Police Victim Services Unit, the government-funded teams are to be available 24 hours a day, and are designed to enhance the efforts of local police and county prosecutors’ offices in assisting and protecting victims of crime and, in particular, to aid women who have suffered from domestic violence.
"We want victims to receive the full array of services they are entitled to," said Deputy State Attorney General Jessica Oppenheim. "We want to alleviate some of the burden from the police department so they can do the best job possible." Starting in September, Banach plans to conduct an application process in which he will enlist approximately 30 township volunteers.
He said officials are seeking community members who have the desire and ability to work with victims of domestic violence. The volunteers must have a driver’s license and be available on an on-call basis, he said. Volunteers will be required to attend a 40-hour certified training program over 10 weeks that will focus on the dynamics of domestic violence, the processes of the criminal justice system, and the basic definitions of criminal law.
The lengthy training process is designed to determine whether the volunteer is truly committed to the program, Banach said.
Upon calling for police assistance, victims of domestic violence will be given the option to speak to a response team volunteer.
The volunteer’s responsibility will lie outside the realm of normal police duties. He or she can refer the victim to a shelter or identify other available local, county and state domestic violence services.
Banach noted that the victim-volunteer relationship is strictly confidential. To protect volunteers, victims are only permitted to meet with them at police headquarters, he said.
The Monroe Township Council passed a resolution Aug. 5 to accept funds from the state Department of Law and Public Safety for the purpose of starting the domestic violence response team.
Rachel Sacharow of the state Criminal Justice Division said the municipal response teams will each receive $5,000 in federal funding, while regional response teams will receive $20,000, she said. According to Banach, the government grants will be used to fund the training programs and to purchase beepers for the volunteers and cameras for photographing victims’ injuries.
The state Superior Court recorded nearly 44,000 domestic violence complaints in New Jersey in 2000.
Among the other Middlesex County municipalities to have already established the domestic violence response teams are Old Bridge and East Brunswick.

