King County Domestic Violence Unit Closure Unpopular

John O'Brien
12/08/2008

King County's decision to disband its Domestic Violence Investigation Unit is not going over well with county staff and victim services providers. The unit will shut down by year's end. KUOW's John O'Brien has our story.

TRANSCRIPT

SERGEANT JOHN URQUHART REPRESENTS THE KING COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE. HE CALLS THE CLOSURE OF THE COUNTY'S TEN–YEAR–OLD DOMESTIC VIOLENCE UNIT A MONUMENTAL CUTBACK TO A SUCCESSFUL PROGRAM. URQUHART UNDERSTANDS THE COUNTY HAD TO MAKE CUTS, BUT HE SAYS THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE COME OUT OF SPECIALIZED LAW ENFORCEMENT.

URQUHART: "We don't control our budget. We're entirely dependent on what the council and Executive Sims ... whatever they do. At least in our opinion, the first roll of government is public safety, that's what they have to do first, and quite frankly they're not doing this now. We're losing over 50 deputies and detectives. That's less police service, less follow up investigations, less specialized units such as the Domestic Violence Unit."

URQUHART SAYS THE EXPERTISE CONCENTRATED IN THE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE UNIT WILL BE LOST OVER TIME. FOR NOW, DEPUTIES AND DETECTIVES WILL BE TRANSFERRED TO CITIES AROUND UNINCORPORATED KING COUNTY. CIVILIAN STAFF WILL BE LAID OFF.

ELIZABETH GAY RUNS THE KING COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROGRAM. HER POSITION WAS SLATED TO BE CUT, BUT WAS RESTORED BY THE COUNCIL IN THE FINAL BUDGET. GAY SAYS STUDIES OF SPECIALIZED UNITS PROVE THEY INCREASE VICTIM SAFTEY, OFFENDER ACCOUNTABILITY AND INTERNAL LAW ENFORCEMENT PROCEDURES.

GAY: "The loss of this Domestic Violence Unit is really an erosion of our public safety response for our community and it really puts us back to where we were prior to 1998."

LEE DRECHSEL IS THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE DOMESTIC ABUSE WOMEN'S NETWORK, OR DAWN. DAWN PROVIDES A 24–HOUR HOTLINE, COUNSELING AND SHELTER SERVICES TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE VICTIMS IN SOUTH KING COUNTY. DRECHSEL SAYS THE CLOSURE OF THE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE UNIT WILL BE DEVASTATING TO HER AGENCY.

DRECHSEL: "The community needs to be aware of just how serious elimination of specific resources for victims of domestic violence is. We read about battered women getting killed it seems like more frequently than we ever have. It's just a problem that's not going away."

DRECHSEL SAYS 44% OF WOMEN IN KING COUNTY EXPERIENCE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN THEIR LIFE TIMES. CHILDREN ARE OFTEN WITNESS TO THE VIOLENCE. IT IS ESTIMATED THAT APPROXIMATELY 80,000 KING COUNTY CHILDREN ARE EXPOSED TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE EVERY YEAR.

DRECHSEL SAYS HER AGENCY IS ONLY ABLE TO OFFER EMERGENCY SHELTER TO ONE OUT OF EVERY 29 WOMEN WHO SEEK HELP. IN ADDITION TO THE SHERIFF'S UNIT CLOSURE, DAWN'S FUNDING FROM KING COUNTY, 10% OF THEIR $2 MILLION ANNUAL BUDGET, WILL BE ELIMINATED NEXT YEAR.

JOHN O'BRIEN, KUOW NEWS.

© Copyright 2008, KUOW