Middlesex District Attorney and Community Partners Launch New Domestic Violence Initiative in Lowell
High-Risk Assessment Team to Coordinate Response and Care for Victims
LOWELL – The Middlesex District Attorney’s Office in conjunction with 23 partner agencies today launches the first domestic violence high-risk assessment and rapid response team for the city of Lowell, Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone informed the public today.
The Greater Lowell Evaluation and Advocacy Network (GLEAN) will work to reduce and prevent domestic violence homicides and hold offenders accountable by refining and tightening relationships between police, courts and community providers in Lowell. This collaboration and public-private partnership is designed to better serve victims of abuse in a coordinated, collaborative and holistic manner.
GLEAN launched today during an event at the Lowell National Historical Park in downtown Lowell. Joining DA Leone for this launch were Police Chief Kenneth Lavallee, Alternative House Executive Director Kathy Kelley, and other community partners.
“Domestic violence is one of the most significant public safety issues that we face,” DA Leone said. “We cannot fully protect and serve those who are being subject to domestic violence situations without building coalitions that rely on these community and public safety partnerships which provide crucial services for victims and reduce barriers against disclosure. I am thrilled that we can bring this model to the residents of Lowell and continue to work to provide safety and support to domestic violence victims.”
“Alternative House welcomes this newest collaboration with the Middlesex District Attorney’s office, the Lowell Police Department, and our other partners,” said Kathy Kelley, executive director of Alternative House. “We feel this collaboration will increase the safety for all domestic violence victims and ensure that they may move forward in living a life free of domestic abuse.”
The need to create a high-risk team was identified by Lowell Police and Middlesex District Attorney’s Office data that indicated an increase in aggravated assault and battery cases, more than half of which were domestic incidents.
“When the Lowell Police Department recognized, through its Compstat process, that a majority of the aggravated assaults in the city were domestic related, the department turned to District Attorney Gerry Leone to form a collaboration to deal with the issue,” said Chief Lavallee. “After much deliberation and planning the Greater Lowell Evaluation & Advocacy Network (GLEAN) was formed which includes the Lowell Police Department’s commitment to the High-Risk Team Model, which we feel will have a significant impact on reducing the domestic related violence in the city of Lowell.”
As part of the program, all Lowell Police officers will receive additional domestic violence response training.
The high-risk team model in Middlesex County was inspired by the success of the Greater Newburyport Domestic Violence High Risk Team. Like the Newburyport team, GLEAN will emphasize collaboration and information sharing between partner agencies to provide thoughtful and proactive interventions to domestic violence victims. On a monthly, or on an emergency, basis, the team will meet to review referred cases and will develop and implement crisis intervention plans for victims and their families.
Between 2003 and 2011 there were 250 domestic violence related homicides in Massachusetts. In Lowell, the GLEAN partnership has identified more than 70 potential high-risk domestic violence cases.
Other partners in the GLEAN program are: Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence, Center for Hope and Healing, International Institute of New England, Merrimack Valley Legal Services, Lowell District Court Probation Department, Lowell Housing Authority, Lowell Senior Center, Lowell Alliance for Families and Neighborhoods, Lowell Historical National Park, Department of Children and Families, Community Teamwork Inc., Greater Lowell Technical High School, Lowell Community Health Center, Lowell General Hospital, Holy Family Hospital, UMASS Lowell, MSPCC Healthy Families Lowell, Massachusetts Parole Board, Middlesex Sheriff’s Office, and the Massachusetts Department of Correction.
GLEAN is the newest addition to a series of high-risk teams operating in Middlesex County. Other high-risk teams are in place in Ayer, Cambridge, Concord, Framingham, Somerville, and Stoneham.
District Attorney Gerry Leone was elected in November of 2006 and took office in January 2007 and has since implemented a number of new initiatives designed to better protect and serve the people of Middlesex County. In 2007, Leone created a new Domestic Violence Unit to more effectively prevent and prosecute instances of domestic violence as well as better serve its victims. DA Leone has developed several initiatives including a College Training where 200 members of law enforcement, health care, and administration from every college and university within Middlesex County and the surrounding areas are trained in the areas of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, Stalking and Cyber Crimes. In 2010, Leone created a domestic violence and animal abuse prevention initiative that is aimed at training law enforcement and first responders about the correlation between domestic abuse and animal abuse.
To better assist victims in Middlesex County, DA Leone has designated specific Domestic Violence Assistant District Attorneys in each district court who are trained and focused on the prosecution of those crimes. DA Leone has also launched a comprehensive effort to train and better coordinate with local police departments – helping them to better identify and investigate cases of domestic violence. In addition to on-site trainings, members of the Middlesex DA’s Domestic Violence Unit have also provided departments with:
· Roll call training video
· Risk Factor cards to help better identify high risk instances of domestic violence
· Dispatcher checklists and trainings to help better respond to DV victim calls
· A comprehensive domestic violence resource and training package
· Regular legal updates to keep the departments up to date on new domestic violence laws and caselaw
Each local police department has also committed to establishing a DV point of contact to serve as a liaison to the DV Unit.
Leone has implemented the national domestic violence prevention program “Cut-It-Out” in Middlesex County, an MDAO outreach effort to hairdressers who are often among the first people to notice or become aware that their clients are the victims of domestic violence. The MDAO’s Cut-It-Out program was modeled after the national program of the Salons Against Domestic Abuse Fund, which is dedicated to mobilizing salon professionals and others to recognize signs of abuse and to fight the epidemic of domestic violence in communities across the United States.
These programs are part of Leone’s continuing commitment to preventing domestic violence though education and training, and enforcing the laws through investigation and prosecution of domestic violence abuse.
Middlesex County is the largest county in Massachusetts and one of the largest counties in the country with 54 towns and cities and 26 colleges in urban, suburban, and rural areas, comprising over one quarter of the population of Massachusetts. The Middlesex District Attorney’s Office has offices throughout the county, including communities such as Ayer, Cambridge, Concord, Framingham, Lowell, Malden, Marlborough, Natick, Newton, Somerville, Waltham and Woburn.
Contact: Stephanie Chelf Guyotte, 781-897-8325
October 22, 2012
