Chicago Works to Improve Response to Domestic Violence Cases

The spotlight on efforts to combat domestic violence continues to shine on groundbreaking changes in policy and procedure developed by a Chicago citywide task force formed last year by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The task force – which is a collaboration between the Mayor’s office, the Chicago Police Department (CPD), the office of the Cook County State’s Attorney, the city Department of Family and Support Services and the Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women’s Network – has formulated new training protocols for first-responding officers to increase sensitivity to the psychological and emotional aspects of domestic situations, enhance coordination between the police, the prosecutors and service providers to keep victims safe, and to improve evidence collection techniques to assist in prosecution and conviction of offenders.

Against a backdrop in which the CPD annually responds to more than 200,000 domestic- related calls, Mayor Emanuel explained the need for this coordinated response by pointing to the 31 domestic violence-related murders in Chicago in 2013, and the fact that many of these victims contacted the police at least once before they were killed. Believing that “[i]f we handled it right the first time, we could [have] prevent[ed]” these deaths, Emanuel charged the group with improving the system. To that end, focus was placed on the pivotal role police officers play as the first contact abused women have with the justice system when they decide to seek help and leave their abusers.

As part of its fact-finding process, the task force heard disturbing stories that included women being interviewed by police in the presence of their alleged abusers, and then being left in that household if no arrest was made. The problems also reached into the legal system, including that prosecutors were routinely handed incomplete police reports lacking necessary information making it extremely difficult to pursue domestic violence cases if the victim declined to testify.

In response, the task force developed a set of specific goals and implemented new strategies for first responders, service providers and prosecutors, including:

• Identification of households at an elevated risk for injury;
• Elevation of the law enforcement response to those households;
• Proactive connection of high-risk victims to services, including counseling, shelters, and legal advocacy/representation; and
• Prioritizing higher-risk offenders for prosecution.