Funding will create team to fight domestic abuse

By CHERY SABOL

The Daily Inter Lake

The Violence Free Crisis Line and the city of Kalispell have received a $390,000 federal grant to put together a team to intervene in domestic-abuse cases.

Director Janet Cahill wrote the grant application, along with victim-witness advocate Tawnia Ramstad. The organization paired with the city because a governmental entity was needed to win the grant and because city employees will be part of the team.

The grant provides for a prosecutor and police detective solely devoted to the team, a part-time victim-witness advocate who works with victims, and a compliance officer who functions like a probation officer after sentencing to monitor people convicted of domestic crimes until their sentences are completed.

Cahill said the effectiveness of such teams has been proven in communities such as Colorado Springs, Colo.

The team is activated usually on a second offense of partner or family-member abuse. Then, the team looks at all aspects of what is happening in the home, including the children and even pets.

With a prosecutor who is dedicated to take offenders to court, the conviction rate is higher, Cahill said. The prosecutor and detective will work in the team's office, outside of City Hall.

Funding from the grant is available on Oct. 1. The team doesn't yet have an office.

"We're real excited," Cahill said, adding that the team could give a better sense of security to victims of domestic violence.

With a whole corps of people assigned to investigate and monitor the case, women may be less worried that, "He will just get out of jail and come back and hurt them," Cahill said.

The grant comes from the Office of Violence Against Women in the Department of Justice. It is for two years and could be up for renewal.