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[text here below of Tyner/MacAvery/Amparo/Farley/Strawinski/Ignaffo resolution-- not even allowed on to agenda for any Co. Leg. meeting this year-- tho submitted in mid-March by yours truly to Co. Leg. offices (this resolution was/is the reason why our county's Citizens Advisory Committee on Domestic Violence examined this issue and just released its report on this Friday]
WHEREAS, the Town of Hyde Park and Family Services have secured funding through the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services to strengthen the criminal justice response to domestic violence in Hyde Park, and
WHEREAS, the effort will be made through increased collaboration by strengthening the response to domestic incidents through two approaches-- establishment of a Domestic Abuse Response Team (DART) Project and implementation of the Lethality Assessment Program (LAP), thus expanding the DART Project beyond just the City and Town of Poughkeepsie and the City of Beacon here in Dutchess County, and
WHEREAS, in the aftermath of a rise in domestic violence homicides in the county beginning in 2010, Dutchess County engaged in a system-wide review to enhance practices to prevent domestic violence,resulting in the formation of the High Risk Case Management Project and the Lethality Assessment pilot project, and
WHEREAS, coordination among agencies to identify domestic violence and provide an identified response for victims in order to avoid potentially lethal cases is critical to this effort, according to officials, and
WHEREAS, The funding allows for the establishment of DART and LAP and includes the addition of an advocate within the Hyde Park Police Department who can work with victims; the advocate, who is an employee of Family Services Domestic Violence Services and will work out of the Hyde Park Police Department, will lend expertise to the
police department for the identification and preparation of cases which in the past might have been lost due to reluctance on the part of victims or perceived lack of actionable evidence by the police officer, and
WHEREAS, the project builds upon existing knowledge and programs, and expands it by offering guidance and access to key resources to victims and police officers in the immediate aftermath of a domestic violence incident, and therefore be it
RESOLVED, that the Dutchess County Legislature requests that the Dutchess County District Attorney's DART Coordinator work with the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services and the Dutchess
Count Budget Office to evaluate the cost and feasibility of expanding the DART Project throughout Dutchess County to all municipalities, not just Hyde Park, City and Town of Poughkeepsie, and the City of Beacon, and that our county's DART Coordinator report back to our County Legislature on this, as domestic violence is a serious problem across our county, and be it further
RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be sent to the Dutchess County Executive, Dutchess County District Attorney's DART Coordinator, New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, and the Dutchess Count Budget Office, and police departments across Dutchess County.
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EXPANDING THE COORDINATED RESPONSE TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN DUTCHESS COUNTY
Presented by the Citizens Advisory Committee on Domestic Violence
June 2015
Respectfully submitted,
Dutchess County Legislative Citizens' Advisory Committee on Domestic Violence
Legislator Donna Bolner, Liaison to the Legislature
Whitney Bonura, Chair
Elaine Andersen
Leah Feldman
Judith Lombardi
Det. Sgt. Jason Mark
Catherine Lane
Christine Manning
Lisa Rubenstein
Peter Phipps
Marjorie Smith
Janice Weinstein
In October 2013, the Citizens' Advisory Committee on Domestic Violence submitted the report "System Wide Review and Recommendations." Since that time, the Citizens' Advisory Committee and agencies involved in Dutchess County's Universal Response to Domestic Violence have progressed on some important initiatives that have improved our county's ability to protect victims and hold offenders accountable. Although great progress has been made in Dutchess County, domestic violence still remains a serious issue in our community and is continuing to be addressed through the County's Coordinated Community Response to Domestic Violence.
As a result of a resolution [County Legislator Joel Tyner's] by the Dutchess County Legislature, this report is intended to provide requested information to the Legislature including the cost and feasibility of expanding the existing coordinated community response to domestic violence to all localities within the county. More specifically, we will provide recommendations related to the expansion of Domestic Abuse Response Teams (DART) and the Lethality Assessment Program (LAP) throughout the county.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN DUTCHESS COUNTY
In 2015, domestic violence continues to have a profound effect on the Dutchess County community. It affects individuals and families in EVERY Town, Village and City, regardless of age, gender, economic status, race, religion, nationality or educational background. It knows no jurisdictional boundaries.
The law requires police agencies to complete a Domestic Incident Report for each response to a reported incident. Statistics resulting from those reports provide an eye-opening picture of our community. In Dutchess County, there were 4063 Domestic Incidents in 2014. This means that police respond to an average of over 11 domestic incidents per day. The time spent in the police response to domestic violence represents a significant investment in police resources.
While the financial costs of responding to domestic violence in the county are significant, those costs are dwarfed by the human and emotional costs to victims and the children exposed to violence. Thankfully, in Dutchess County, there are a number of innovative practices offered through the Universal Response to Domestic Violence that offer a collaborative approach to domestic violence in our community. For the purposes of this report, the focus will be on two such programs: Domestic Abuse Response Teams (DART) and the Lethality Assessment Program (LAP).
CURRENT STATUS OF DOMESTIC ABUSE RESPONSE TEAMS (DART) AND THE LETHALITY ASSESSMENT PROGRAM (LAP) IN DUTCHESS COUNTY
Domestic Abuse Response Team (DART):
The DART Project was established in January of 1998 in the City of Poughkeepsie. As a result of the success in that jurisdiction, it has been expanded to other jurisdictions in Dutchess County for a total of 4 DART jurisdictions: the City of Poughkeepsie, the Town of Poughkeepsie, the City of Beacon and the Town of Hyde Park. DART is an interdisciplinary team consisting of the four Domestic Violence Outreach Workers in the DA's Office, four DART advocates at Family Services Domestic Violence Services, Night/Weekend Hotline Advocates at Family Services Domestic Violence Services, four police officers from each of the DART Police Departments, three DART Probation Officers from the Domestic Violence Unit of the Dutchess County Office of Probation and Community Corrections, the Special Victims Bureau of the Dutchess County District Attorney's Office, the High Risk Case Manager from Domestic Violence Services and the Project Coordinator of Universal Response to Domestic Violence (who also serves as DART Project Coordinator). The Steering Committee for a Universal Response to Domestic Violence oversees the project.
There are three primary goals of the DART project. First, to enhance the criminal justice response to domestic violence in order to improve the ability of the system to monitor compliance of defendants and shift the responsibility of monitoring away from the victim and onto the justice system. Second, to increase the accountability of offenders with the goal of reducing new domestic incidents and increasing safety of victims. Lastly, to enhance safety and coordination of services to individuals who are victims of domestic violence. Victims feel safer and are more willing to pursue prosecution when they see the system's immediate and coordinated response.
In order to achieve the three main goals, DART provides a consistent response across all four jurisdictions. In these jurisdictions, when there is a police call involving intimate partner violence, the responding officer places a call to the Domestic Violence Services 24-hour Hotline either on the scene or after the response. The intent is to connect the victim with advocacy for safety planning and to address the overall human consequences of the violence. If a victim walks into the police department, an officer will immediately connect the victim with the DART advocate co-located at the department. The victim is given the option of speaking with an advocate. If the victim is not interested in speaking with an advocate at that time, he or she is given the option of having the DART Advocate contact him or her in the next several days.
In 2014, 1472 DART calls were placed to the Domestic Violence Services hotline and 623 victims received follow-up services such as advocacy, counseling, obtaining temporary income assistance and finding safe housing.
DART team members attempt to compile pre-arraignment information to be provided to the Court at arraignment. Domestic Incident Reports (DIR) from the previous night are faxed to the DA's Office by the DART advocate at the respective police agencies. Using these reports, an Outreach Worker contacts the victim to discuss the case, to document their input and to make appropriate referrals for services. The DART Probation Officer (PO) runs a criminal background check and domestic violence history on the defendant and conducts a pre-arraignment interview whenever possible. Whenever possible, the Outreach Worker and the Probation Officer discuss the case, including possible recommendations for bail or otherwise. The DART PO provides a recommendation to the court either in person or via fax regarding release and/or pre-trial options.
Each jurisdiction's DART team conferences every DART case involving an arrest at least once. The purpose of the case conferencing is to allow the Project Coordinator to ensure compliance with program tasks, to check the NYS Order of Protection Registry to confirm all requested orders of protection were granted and to allow team members to exchange information. In 2014, 317 cases were conferenced in the three DART jurisdictions (Hyde Park as a 4th jurisdiction was added only in December 2014). Attendees include: Project Coordinator, the DV Outreach Worker assigned to the jurisdiction, the DART Advocate assigned to the police department, Police Officers of the agency, Probation Officer, High Risk Case Manager, and Assistant District Attorney (as needed).
The DART Project has been recognized as an innovation that is successful at keeping victims connected with the system and cooperative with the criminal justice process; the net result is that those victims are safer and more secure as a result of this collaboration.
The Lethality Assessment Pilot Project (LAP):
Following a recommendation from the Dutchess County Legislature's Citizen's Advisory Committee on Domestic Violence in October 2013, the Universal Response to Domestic Violence (URDV) Steering Committee began considering the utilization of Lethality Assessments for first responding law enforcement officers. With support from the Citizens Advisory Committee report, the URDV Steering Committee determined that for this endeavor, our county would utilize The Lethality Assessment Program-Maryland Model (LAP), created by the Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence (MNADV). We have been implementing LAP in Dutchess County since May 2014 with five jurisdictions participating in the pilot project: The New York State Police (piloting in one barrack), the Dutchess County Sheriff's Office (piloting in 3 zones), Hyde Park Police, East Fishkill Police and Town of Poughkeepsie Police (began implementation in May 2015). LAP is a collaborative endeavor between law enforcement and victim service providers at the time of domestic incident. LAP is a collaborative partnership, much like DART. However, the DART response differs in that it includes additional disciplines and impacts more stages in the criminal justice response.
The Lethality Assessment Program program provides an easy and effective method for law enforcement and victim service providers to identify victims of domestic violence who are at the highest potential risk for being killed by their intimate partners. The objective is to immediately connect these victims at highest risk to a domestic violence service provider. The LAP is a multi-pronged intervention program that consists of an 11 question research-based lethality screening tool, an accompanying referral protocol that provides direction for the screener based on the results of the screening process, follow-up contact and other best practices and protocols. The tool is based on the validated research of Dr. Jacqueline Campbell of Johns Hopkins University.
The goal of the LAP is to prevent domestic violence homicides, serious injury and re-assault by encouraging more victims to use the shelter, counseling, advocacy, and support services of domestic violence programs. Studies have proven that the support services of domestic violence programs can save lives and reduce re-assaults, yet programs continue to be under-utilized. In many cases, high-risk victims do not understand nor recognize the potential for danger. By connecting victims of domestic violence with service providers immediately at the time of incident, our community has the opportunity to empower victims to take positive actions to protect themselves.
Since project implementation in 2014, we have had great success in the LAP pilot project. From May 2014 through March 2015, 190 victims of domestic violence were identified as experiencing elevated risk for being killed or seriously injured by the administration of the 11 question screening tool. 78% of those victims chose to speak to a hotline worker on scene and have received immediate access to safety planning and support. An astounding 60% of victims who initially spoke to a hotline worker on scene stayed connected for additional services. This number is particularly impressive, as the national average is only 29%.
LAP is a true partnership between law enforcement and victim service providers. Our goal is to connect victims at the highest risk of lethality and serious re-assault with services that can help increase safety. We are achieving our goal with great success. The LAP program is positively impacting lives and the safety of victims in Dutchess County. Our LAP project is an innovative practice in New York State and members of the team have presented on our model to the NYS Advisory Council on Domestic Violence as a promising practice that NYS hopes to replicate in the future.
Additional collaborations:
There are collaborations in the county that effectively help victims of domestic violence, but do not fall under the purview of DART or LAP. Although these initiatives do not have all of the elements of a DART team, they do provide one of the most crucial elements of response needed to enhance system collaboration: a partnership between the law enforcement and victim service community. There are two such partnerships in Dutchess County, one at the New York State Police and the other at the Dutchess County Sheriff's Office.
The New York State Police employ eight full time Crime Victim Specialists (CVS) throughout the state. One of the Specialists is assigned to work from Troop K, covering Dutchess County as well as neighboring counties. The role of the CVS is to act as a resource to both law enforcement and victims of crime (including victims of domestic violence). The intent is to assure that victims are advised of their rights, as well as to provide assistance and comfort for victims. The practice also assures that members of law enforcement are provided with adequate information regarding services to victims. The CVS collaborates and cooperates with other service providers to facilitate assistance to victims and to reduce duplication of services when possible. The CVS attends meetings and events related to the provision of direct services for victims as well as for the purposes of identifying gaps in and the improvement of services for victims community wide.
The Dutchess County Sheriff's Office houses a full time Domestic Violence Victim Advocate employed by Family Services. Though not a DART advocate or part of a DART Team, this advocate provides assistance to domestic violence victims at the Sheriff's Office including safety planning, counseling, referrals, court appearances, advocacy, shelter placement, and explanation of criminal justice and family court procedures. The advocate also provides education to DCSO deputies and detectives through in-service training and direct assistance. This position was originally called the "Jessica Gonzales Victim Assistant" because the funding for the position was obtained for 2010 through a Federal grant by that title. When funding for the position was lost, the DCSO advocated strongly for the victim service professional to remain in the department. This advocacy was successful and Family Services has placed a victim advocate within the DCSO (with funding provided by Dutchess County through the DCSO budget) since that time.
CURRENT STATUS OF DART AND LAP FUNDING
Currently, the primary source of funding for the Domestic Abuse Response Team Project is Dutchess County. The Dutchess County Department of Community and Family Services provides a grant annually to Family Services Domestic Violence Services in order to provide full-time DART Advocates in three of the DART jurisdictions: City of Poughkeepsie, Town of Poughkeepsie and City of Beacon. This grant also provides DART project coordination by the Universal Response to Domestic Violence Project Coordinator. Two of the four DV Outreach Workers at the DA's office are employed by Family Services with grant funding provided by Dutchess County through the budgets of DCFS and the DA's office. Dutchess County also provides support for the DART response through the Office of Probation and Community Corrections. There are currently three specialized domestic violence Probation Officers assigned to the four existing DART Teams. Lastly, Dutchess County provides support for the DART response through the District Attorney's Office. Two of the four DV Outreach Workers are employed by the Dutchess County District Attorney's Office. The four police departments currently involved in DART do not receive funding specific to DART activities; officer time is provided in kind to the project by the respective police agencies.
Between 2000 and the end of 2014, New York State provided funding to our local DART project through the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS). In December of 2014, DCJS advised that it would no longer fund the program. This unfortunate news represented a loss of $75,000 in annual funding. The Victim Service Unit Manager at DCJS advised that there was less money available for victim service programs (DART falls under this category) resulting from new federally required set-asides, sub-allocation requirements and PREA penalty . In addition, because of loss of funding through other NY state agencies in 2014, there was a significantly higher number of applicants seeking DCJS funding. The result is that successful programs, like our DART program, which have historically received funding, did not receive funding in 2015. Our community will not be eligible to reapply for this funding until DCJS issues an open competitive request for proposals in the future. According to the Unit Manager at DCJS, it is estimated that will not take place for another three to five years.
The newly formed and highly successful DART expansion into Hyde Park has been funded by a grant through Project IMPACT. The IMPACT initiative, funded through DCJS, was a project whereby assistance was provided to the 17 counties upstate and on Long Island (including Dutchess County) that account for nearly 80 percent of the crime outside of New York City. In May 2015, DCJS advised that Hyde Park will no longer receive support through IMPACT when the current contract expires in November 2015. This represents a loss of $50,000 in funding to continue this vital community response. NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services has transitioned from IMPACT to Gun Involved Violence Elimination (GIVE). The program activities of DART and LAP are not eligible for funding through GIVE.
Over the past two years, the New York State offices of Division of Criminal Justice Services, Office for Victim Services and Office of Child and Family Services have reduced the amount of grant awards to victim service programs in Dutchess County. This has resulted in reduced programming staff and services available to our community. We are thankful that Dutchess County is committed to the existing coordinated community response to domestic violence and has filled some of the gap in funding that resulted from the loss of state funding. The county funding has allowed for continuation of the 24 hour response for DART and LAP police departments who contact DVS at night and on the weekend AND has provided resources to restore the 4th Outreach worker at the District Attorney's Office, an integral part of the DART team.
The Lethality Assessment Project began on a pilot basis in 2014 with no funding. Since May 2014, the LAP response has been made possible by adding additional responsibilities to the work of existing staff at Domestic Violence Services and the participating LAP police jurisdictions. LAP received its first funding stream on June 1, 2015 through a Dutchess County Partners Grant. The County is providing $39,000 over 10 months to Family Services Domestic Violence Services to expand the LAP response throughout the county. That sum will support LAP expansion into all zones of the Dutchess County Sheriff's Office and all barracks of the New York State Police. The County Partners Grant also allows LAP to expand into the City of Poughkeepsie and one additional department. The Town of Fishkill Police Department has been approached for LAP response and exploration of this potential is underway. For further LAP expansion to take place throughout the county, there needs to be additional funding allocated to the project.
EXPANSION OF DART AND LAP
Domestic violence has a devastating effect on every town, village and city in Dutchess County. Thousands of our citizens and their families are impacted each and every year, by the physical, psychological and financial effects of domestic violence. In 2014, there were more than 4000 Domestic Incident Reports filed throughout the County. However, there were only 1472 Domestic Abuse Response Team calls and 119 Lethality Assessment Program calls by law enforcement connecting victims to supportive advocacy services provided through DART and LAP. These numbers illustrate the great commitment of current DART and LAP project partners to follow the innovative policies and procedures that have been adopted (often without funding) to provide the best response possible to victims in our community. However, these numbers also illustrate the fact that many victims in Dutchess County did not have an immediate link to victim services and were likely left unaware of the types of assistance that is available in our community.
Victims who receive immediate and ongoing support are more likely to follow through with prosecution, are more likely to achieve safety, and are better able to gain personal and economic independence for themselves and their children. It is important that every victim of domestic violence in Dutchess County have the opportunity to benefit from the coordinated community response. When appropriate system responses occur as a result of early incidents of violence, it is possible for victims and their children to achieve safety earlier and potentially lessen the trauma experienced by many families in our community.
After careful consideration, the Citizens Advisory Committee on Domestic Violence recommends implementation of DART within all full time, local police agencies within Dutchess County as a long term goal. In the short term, the Committee recommends implementation of LAP by all 15 police departments within Dutchess County. In considering appropriate recommendations for the Legislature, the Citizens Advisory Committee consulted with membership of the Universal Response to Domestic Violence, including those agencies directly involved with current DART and LAP projects.
The committee also considered other factors: 1 - The number of domestic violence incidents per jurisdiction; 2 - Consideration of full and part time department status of local police agencies; 3 - Lock up capability of local police departments; and 4 - Current court structure constraints. In police departments with limited response to domestic incidents (such as smaller, part time departments), the committee believes that resources do not need to be allocated to create new DART teams, as LAP could be expanded into these departments easily, making effective use of the County's resources. In addition, with lock up capability at smaller, part time police departments and irregular court dates often experience in parts of the county, the full DART response cannot be successfully replicated. A chart representing the coordinated community response expansion recommendations is attached to this report.
To enlarge the county's coordinated community response through DART, we recommend that DART be implemented by all full time, local police departments in Dutchess County that do not currently have onsite collaborative relationship between law enforcement and victim service providers. This includes the Town of East Fishkill, Town of Fishkill, and Village of Wappingers Falls. To achieve full success of this long term goal, expanding DART into three new jurisdictions would require two additional advocacy staff at Family Services Domestic Violence Services as well as an additional coordinator position. Expansion of DART would also require one additional Outreach Worker at the District Attorney's Office and two additional Domestic Violence Probation Officers at the Office of Probation and Community Corrections.
To enhance the county's coordinated community response through LAP, we recommend that LAP be implemented in all 15 police agencies in Dutchess County. As a short term goal, expanding LAP is a cost effective way of more quickly enlarging the collaborative response to all geographical areas of the county. This would involve expanding LAP into the police departments of Village of Fishkill, Village of Millbrook, Millerton, Pine Plains, Village of Red Hook, and Village of Rhinebeck. As well as incorporating LAP response into the recommended new DART jurisdictions outlined above. Expanding LAP into new jurisdictions would require an additional LAP Advocate at Family Services Domestic Violence Services.
In order to help law enforcement officers understand the importance of lethality assessments in domestic violence situations, as well as the need to widen the lens through which domestic violence cases are viewed, training for officers in additional departments is necessary for project success. Training will improve system response to domestic violence while also increasing victim safety and offender accountability. Training will focus on the importance of the use of research based lethality assessments for first responders in domestic violence incidents. Training will also focus on the importance of viewing police involved domestic violence incidents in the context of domestic violence patterns of power and control. It is recommended that the Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence, the creators of the LAP response, provide LAP training to supervising officers of each department. Family Services will then work with supervising officers in each department to provide training to all officers within departments.
In addition to the expansion outlined above, the committee strongly encourages Dutchess County to continue the successful DART and LAP response in the Town of Hyde Park. As previously mentioned, funding for these initiatives through DCJS ends in November, 2015. While strong advocacy is being performed with state representatives in hopes of obtaining member item funding, this funding would be time limited and the project would likely require county funding for successful continuation in years to come.
RESOURCES NEEDED FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF DART AND LAP EXPANSION and
CONTINUATION OF HYDE PARK DART/LAP PROJECT
Family Services Domestic Violence Services Expansion and Hyde Park Continuation
* Personnel Costs: $252,969 per year for 5 full time staff including salary and fringe (2 new DART advocate positions, 1 new LAP advocate position, 1 new coordinator position; and 1 continued Hyde Park DART advocate); URDV program coordination and oversight. Additional on call coverage for DART and LAP response at night and on the weekend.
* OTPS Costs: $62,031 per year for travel, telephone, supplies, insurance, emergency assistance to victims and FSI administration costs for additional program activity and staff and Hyde Park DART continuation expenses.
TOTAL Family Services Cost for expansion and Hyde Park continuation: $315,000 per year
Dutchess County Department of Probation and Community Services Expansion
* Personnel Costs: $142,442 per year for 2 additional full time Probation Officers including salaries and fringe.
* OTPS Costs: $3000 for office set up and related supplies for additional staff.
TOTAL Probation and Community Services Cost: $145,442 per year
Dutchess County District Attorney's Office Expansion
* Personnel Costs: $67,800 per year for 1 additional full time Outreach Worker including salary and fringe.
TOTAL DAs Office Cost: $67,800 per year
Lethality Assessment Project Training through Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence
* One time cost of $5500 to host LAP training for supervising officers of new LAP police jurisdictions and new advocacy staff. Cost covers training and travel of two LAP experts (1 law enforcement and 1 advocate) provided by the Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence as well as training space and training supplies for participants.
TOTAL Training Cost: $5500 - one time training cost, not an annual expense
Law Enforcement Training:
* One time cost of $4900 to train all law enforcement officers in three new DART jurisdictions. Training content will be provided by Universal Response to Domestic Violence, Domestic Violence Services and supervisory staff within each individual department. Training budget covers the overtime cost needed to provide 1 hour of training per officer on new policies and procedures related to becoming a DART jurisdiction. It is estimated that within the 3 new recommended DART jurisdictions that 98 officers would need to be trained at an average cost of $50 per overtime hour per officer for a cost of $4900.
* One time cost of $7600 to train all law enforcement officers in the 9 new LAP jurisdictions. Training content will be provided by Universal Response to Domestic Violence, Domestic Violence Services and supervisory staff within each individual department. Training budget covers the overtime cost needed to provide 1 hour of training per officer on LAP response. It is estimated that within the 9 new LAP jurisdictions that 152 officers would need to be trained at an average cost of $50 per overtime hour per officer and a total cost of $7600.
TOTAL Law Enforcement Training Cost: $12,500- one time training cost, not an annual expense
TOTAL onetime costs for program expansion: $18,000
TOTAL annual costs for program expansion: $528,242
CONCLUSION
Great progress has been made in Dutchess County since the Citizens' Advisory Committee on Domestic Violence submitted a System Review and Recommendations Report in 2013. The Domestic Abuse Response Team partnerships and the Lethality Assessment Program have tremendously improved the criminal justice response for victims of domestic violence. These multi-disciplinary approaches to addressing victims and offenders have streamlined the criminal justice process and assisted in creating safety for victims. However, our work is not done. There is great potential for expansion of our Coordinated Community Response to Domestic Violence, including increasing the number of Domestic Abuse Response Teams and police jurisdictions participating in the Lethality Assessment Program. These expansions can only be a reality if funding is provided to various agencies within our community. Agencies will continue to look towards state and federal grant funding to meet long term goals, but given the current instability of federal and state funds, it is recommended that Dutchess County be the primary funder of these new initiatives in the short term.
The Citizens Advisory Committee on Domestic Violence submits this report with the knowledge that extending the coordinated community response throughout Dutchess County comes with a high price tag. We believe the expansion of DART and LAP outlined above is a goal that our community should strive to achieve. However, we also believe that to achieve sustainable success, expansion should be done with thoughtful financial and programmatic planning over time. Expansion of the magnitude and cost outlined above should be a long-term goal for Dutchess County. The Committee advises the Legislature to consider two feasible goals over the next year. First, to support the successful Hyde Park DART and LAP project after funding ends in November 2015.
Second, to support implementation of the Lethality Assessment Program in all law enforcement departments of Dutchess County. Expanding the LAP project countywide will provide a cost effective way to enhance collaborations between agencies and offer life saving services to victims of domestic violence no matter what part of the county they call home.
As always, our committee appreciates your time and attention to the problems created in our community due to domestic violence. We applaud the efforts that Dutchess County has made to address the impact of domestic violence. We look forward to future enhancement of the county's collaborative response, as well as continued efforts by local agencies that are working to educate our community and prevent violence from occurring. We would be happy to provide further information on the initiatives discussed above as well as additional topics as needed by the Legislature.
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