CARDV eyes greater role in Linn County
18 February 2010 | 3:14 pm
By Steve Lundeberg, (c) The Gazette-Times
SUGGESTIONS
With the majority of its clients in Linn County, CARDV recognizes the need for broadening its reach in the county.
Eventually, it wants shelters like the ones it operates in Corvallis. In the interim, even a simple branch office would be helpful to cut down on travel time for staff and clients alike.
Anyone with ideas for helping CARDV meet its goals or helping the agency better serve Linn County should call (541) 758-0219.
On Tuesday, about 40 people at a forum, including District Attorney Jason Carlile, Lebanon Police Chief Mike Healy and Detective Kevin Martinez and Linn County Commissioner Will Tucker, discussed some telling statistics, including:
• 60 percent of CARDV’s clients are from Linn County, many of them at least a half-hour drive from the agency’s office, 4786 S.W. Philomath Blvd.
• The nonprofit responded to almost 2,700 calls from Linn residents in fiscal year 2008-09 and sheltered 97 people for a total of 1,151 nights.
• In the same time period, CARDV staff drove more than 25,000 miles to assist clients.
• Domestic violence cases make up 20 percent of the Linn County Circuit Court docket.
The numbers argue for a physical presence of CARDV in Linn County — shelters for abuse victims, or at least an office where battered women could talk to someone and use a phone or computer.
In the meantime, while funding is pursued, the agency will continue to work with Linn clients in a variety of ways, including being on call for law enforcement officers as it has since 2005.
“We used to have to go to these cases, stop the immediate violence and then walk away,” Chief Healy said during the forum, held at the Lebanon Public Library. “It’s nice now to have someone from CARDV sent out to hand these situations off to.”
In addition, there are a couple of other key tools being used to counter domestic violence in Linn County.
One is a new “lethality assessment” that, Detective Martinez explained, officers are being trained to use in evaluating abusers on scene.
The assessment is a list of markers that indicate whether an abuser is apt to escalate his behavior to the point of homicide.
Since 2006, Linn County has operated a special domestic violence court that vastly increases the speed at which cases move through the system, which among other things alleviates pressure on the victims.
Carlile said that it used to take an average of 90 days to wrap up a case. Now it’s 28, allowing the work of investigators to stay fresh.
“We’re dismissing fewer cases for lack of evidence,” Carlile said. “We’re much more sophisticated and coordinated now in our response to what I believe is a societal problem.”
