Junior A. Fabiano
April 7, 2009
Willard John Kraemer Jr.
April 9, 2009
(Editor’s Note: This is the second in a two-part series on domestic abuse in the Tri-parishes.)
By SOPHIA RUFFIN
The Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office has raised the bar in handling domestic violence.
The agency’s Police Social Services Division, headed by Lt. Karla Beck, became a full-scale, round-the-clock unit in 2001.
“Sheriff Craig Webre and District Attorney Cam Morvant have a zero tolerance for violence in the parish,” Beck said. “Together, we started a division that would help victims of crimes and circumstances such as traffic fatalities and suicides where the family needs assistance during the aftermath of the trauma.”
The division has 10 full-time officers who work with patrol 24 hours a day.
“We have a domestic violence responder on every shift,” Beck said. “They serve as a point of contact for the regular patrol units.”
Since the division became active, Beck said the number of local domestic violence-related cases has risen. Last year, the division responded to 1,512 domestic abuse cases, 39 sexual assault cases, and issued 162 orders of protection injunctions.
Louisiana has the third highest number of women murdered killed by a domestic partner.
The division receives funding from the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Criminal Justice and the federal government’s Office of Violence Against Women.
The division is allied with the District Attorney’s Office, the Metropolitan Center for Women and Children and Chez Hope shelter in Franklin.
“No matter how well the intentions are or how strong the effort is, one system cannot solve the problems of domestic violence alone,” Beck said. “Being a lone wolf in the fight against domestic violence is not an option.”
Presently, the division’s Grant to Encourage Arrest Policies program receives the most funding at $785,000. The division also gets funds for its youth visitation center, a place where parents have supervised visits with their children. Beck said that program receives approximately $385,000.
Tamara Joseph, a local Metropolitan Center for Women nd Children advocate, works with Beck’s division to help curb domestic violence.
Webre and Morvant hired Joseph in 2006 as a certified support personnel counselor for victims.
“When I first started doing this, the cases were mild and meek, maybe a push here or a shove there,” Joseph said. “But now the crimes are getting more violent. Abusers are literally torturing their victims.”
Lafourche Parish does not have a shelter, relying instead on Chez Hope. Joseph refers about three women monthly to the shelter.
Lauren Himel, Chez Hope’s outreach coordinator, said the agency sheltered 283 women and children from Lafourche Parish last year, and responded to 151 nonresidential calls in the area.
Chez Hope also offers nonresidential services to Lafourche Parish women and children. Counseling and support groups are available. The agency also assists with obtaining protective orders and escorts to court.
Joseph provides some of the same services from her office.
“I am here to give the survivor whatever she needs to restore some sort of balance back in her life,” she said. “You will never get rid of domestic violence, but you can do all you can to control it.”
Once protection orders have been filed and the abuser is in custody, it is job of the District Attorney’s Office to hold abusers accountable. The office has two domestic violence advocates, prosecutor Diane Sanders and Geralyn Pitre.
“We are all equally responsible,” Pitre said. “We don’t blame, but we do look for solutions to problems. If one person’s load is too heavy, then the system will not work.”
Sanders prosecutes cases that range from simple battery to domestic abuse/child endangerment. The latter charge is one of the newest. It states that if a child is present during the time of the incident, the abuser is charged with endangerment.
“This was enacted because most children who have witnessed domestic violence either become an abuser or become involved in domestic disputes,” Pitre said. “It’s a cycle, and it has to be broken somehow.”
Beck said Lafourche’s community collaborative response team develops strategies aimed at successful interventions.
CCRT follows core principles, which include confronting the abuser and applying restrictions, educating the community about domestic violence and focusing on the intervention rather than the crime or punishment.
Each agency involved identifies its own goals, and Beck said they come together to achieve them. The group’s main goals are to maximize safety for victims and children, hold offenders accountable and adopt a zero tolerance for domestic violence in the community.
“There are no second chances when it comes to domestic violence and holding abusers accountable for their actions,” Beck said.
For more information, contact the 24-hour Metropolitan Center hotline at (504) 837-5400 or the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office Police Social Services Division at (985) 449-4477.
Members of the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office’s Police Social Services Division respond 24 hours daily to domestic violence incidents across the parish. * Photo courtesy of THE LPSO POLICE SOCIAL SERVICE DIVISION
