If the Sheriffs Department is successful in its bid to receive grant funding, a new Wayne County Sheriffs deputy will soon be hitting the streets.
During the Wayne County Commissioners January 12 meeting, Captain Charles Hardman received the commissioners unanimous approval to seek a $60,000 grant from the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services (OCJS) to pay the salary and fringe benefit costs for a new deputy sheriff whose job it will be to focus on domestic violence issues.
According to Hardman the Sheriffs Office had a similar position in the late 1990s and early 2000s thanks to grant funding provided by the federal government under the Violence Against Women Act.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice web site in recognition of the severity of the crimes associated with domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking, Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) and established the Office of Violence Against Women within the Department of Justice.
One key provision of VAWA was the development of the STOP (Services, Training, Officers, Prosecutors) grant program to develop and strengthen effective law enforcement and prosecution strategies and victim services in cases involving violent crimes against women.
In Ohio those federal funds are distributed to counties throughout Ohio by the Ohio Department of Public Safetys Office of Criminal Justice Services.
According to Hardman the Sheriffs Office obtained grant funds to hire a deputy dedicated to domestic violence issues in the late 1990s and early 2000s. That position remained in place until the ending of the grant funding cycle lead to the elimination of the position.
Hardman noted that the department applied for the grant again last year. While they did not receive funding under the initial round of grant funding OCJS indicated that the countys proposal had received good reviews and that the reason it had been denied funding was because the available county allocations had all been distributed, leaving the door open for the county to apply for a second chance opportunity should funds become available.
When leftover funding became available the OCJS approached the county and encouraged the department to apply again.
The biggest issue that weve stressed with them is how labor intensive it is not just because you have to have two officers responding to any domestic violence case for safety reasons but also the follow up, said Hardman adding you may not see bruising for example till the next day so someone has to go back the next day to follow up with them, get photographs and build a stronger prosecution case.
One of the things that made the departments application stand out was its domestic violence outreach efforts with the Amish community particularly in light of the 2009 murder of Barbara Weaver.
We want to try to strengthen our relationship with them on domestic violence issues, said Hardman of the departments continuing efforts to work more closely with the Amish community on domestic violence prevention. This might be a way to address some of these issues before it gets to that.
With a large number of domestic violence related calls each year a new deputy dedicated to those issues would be a welcome addition to the department.
According to Hardman from April, 2009 till March, 2010 the department responded to 506 domestic calls, which resulted in 203 people being booked into the Wayne County Jail on domestic violence charges.
Hardman noted that the department will continue its cooperative efforts with organizations like STEPS, Every Womans House and the Victim Witness Assistance Program to try to build stronger prosecution cases for domestic violence.
