The Harford County Sheriff's Office has made some major changes in how it handles domestic violence cases, including writing a report for each call deputies respond to and, in some cases, applying to the District Court commissioner for charges when a victim isn't willing to press charges.
"We want to get a better scope of the problem, look at hot spots, problem areas and insert other services into the mix," Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said during a briefing with local media Wednesday. "We want to keep it from possibly rising to a criminal act later on."
Two of Harford County's three homicides this year were domestic-related, the sheriff said.
"Victims are being victimized, some quite seriously and we needed to do something about it now," Maj. William Davis, head of the agency's Police Operations Bureau, said.
In cases of domestic homicides, that's most often not the first time police have been called to an incident involving those people. Situations often start as arguments, then escalate, Sheriff's Office officials said.
"If we're called there, we're called there for a reason," Maj. Jack Simpson, head of the Administrative Services Bureau, said. "A domestic dispute turns into an assault turns into a homicide. We're trying to get there before that happens."
When Gahler took office, he said he would review every policy in the agency. During the process, the review on how deputies respond to incidents of domestic violence became a priority, he said.
"It was based on incidents we responded to," Gahler said, declining to cite any specific cases. "The Harford County Sheriff's Office was not where it needed to be in terms of how it handled domestic violence cases."
The revised policies will be presented to the Harford County Council at an upcoming meeting.
Starting in March, deputies began following the three revised policies regarding their overall response to domestic violence calls, how court orders are handled and the follow-up involved in an incident. The policies have been rewritten numerous times since then to ensure all concerns are answered.
In the first month after the changes were implemented, the number of domestic violence reports written by deputies increased by 100 percent; and through Wednesday had increased by nearly 133 percent, Gahler said.
"Does that mean there has been twice as much domestic violence in Harford County? Absolutely not," Gahler said. "We're just doing a better job in what, in my opinion, should have been done previously. We're bringing more assets to the table to help victims."
Luisa Caiazzo, CEO of SARC, a non-profit that works with domestic violence and sexual abuse victims, applauded the sheriff's enhancements.
"Deputies are certainly critical partners," Caiazzo said. "It really helps us prevent the escalation of violence at the early stage."
According to the new policy, deputies will write a report for all domestic incidents involving intimate partners, even if there is no evidence of a physical injury or no criminal elements involved that would necessitate an arrest, and for domestic incidents involving non-intimate partners when there is an alleged assault or evidence of injury.
Copies of those reports will be emailed to the sheriff's office Domestic Violence Unit, where deputies will review each case. Follow-up is conducted in all cases.
Deputies will also be able to apply to the court commissioner's office for charges against someone suspected of committing violence against another person, even if that victim doesn't necessarily want to.
"A lot of times they [victims] are in fear, or they can't get there," Gahler said. "We are mandating that our deputies go get that warrant, that summons."
Deputies at the Domestic Violence Unit will look at each report sent to them. They can look at patterns – how many calls have deputies responded to at a specific address in a certain time frame and for what reason.
It may be "three strikes and you're out," Sgt. Paul Ruszala said, if there have been three reports of arguments, but nothing physical, "we may make an in-person follow-up."
"As a member of the Family Justice Center, we serve as a tripwire. We can assess the situation, recognize potential escalation incidents and mitigate them," Lt. Marc Junkerman said.
They can study all cases as a whole, Cpl. Lisa Lane said, looking at possible prior charges, how they ended up. They can consult with parole and probation, if they're involved and review 911 calls to get a better feel for what happened during an incident.
"We want to look at what is the best way to approach it so we can get a handle on a situation before things get out of control," Lane said.
These investigations by the Domestic Violence Unit will result in stronger cases being presented to the Harford County State's Attorney's Office, which could lead to more convictions. It won't be just a he-said, she-said case.
"It's important to focus on the outcomes" in specific cases, Junkerman said, but what it really comes down to is "what are we doing to improve the quality of life for victims and reduce recidivism."
Already in the first few months, deputies have seen repeat domestic violence offenders and, in those instances, deputies are turning to other resources, such as SARC or mental health treatment programs, to get help for victims.
"We want to not only help the victim deal with the situation, we want to get beyond that and help them get on with their lives," Junkerman said.