Statesville/Iredell County Holds First Domestic Violence Call-In
Our partners in Statesville/Iredell Couty held their first-ever call-in for domestic violence offenders on Tuesday, September 23, 2014. According to Capt. Dan Miglin of the Statesville Police Department, there were some 2,832 cases of domestic violence investigated in Iredell County in 2013. Statesville/Iredell modeled their initiative after High Point’s Offender Focused Domestic Violence Initiative. The North Carolina Network for Safe Communities has been in partnership with the High Point Police Department since the planning stages of their domestic violence strategy and been in partnership with Statesville/Iredell since 2009 in assisting them with implementation of their initial focused deterrence strategy to combat gang violence.
With the domestic violence focused deterrence strategy, offenders with requisite records for domestic violence offenses are called in for a face-to-face meeting with the community, law enforcement, and resource partners to hear one clear, unified message: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IS WRONG AND IT WILL NO LONGER BE TOLERATED.
The domestic violence call-in is similar to the chronic offender and gang/group call-ins which Statesville/Iredell has used in the past to send a stern message to violent offenders. However, the messaging is changed to be specific to the domestic violence offender. Offenders are educated about the potential prosecutorial levers that exist to use against domestic violence offenders in both the state and federal systems. They are warned that if they choose to reoffend with domestic violence after the call-in meeting, then law enforcement will follow up with swift, certain, and severe consequences. A prior victim of domestic violence spoke to offenders about the horrible consequences that their behavior has on children reared in homes where they witness domestic violence. Moral voice speakers from the community offered a message of support to help offenders with issues that may be related to their use of violence, but the support was backed with a firm statement that domestic violence is wrong.
Offenders’ anonymity was stripped and their behavior was brought to the forefront of both law enforcement and the community during the call-in. Domestic violence is no longer a secret in Statesville/Iredell County and partners are taking a clear stand against it through implementation of the domestic violence focused deterrence strategy. We wish them the best of luck and applaud their efforts!
