The Lethality Assessment Program (LAP), created by the Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence, is being implemented by the Kansas City Police Department, Grandview Police Department, Raytown Police Department, Rose Brooks Center, Hope House, and Synergy Services, starting on June 1st, 2009. This pilot program is designed for first responders to determine if domestic violence case are at high risk for lethality, and will help direct victims of intimate partner violence to assistance from providers.

PRESS RELEASE

Tools for Law Enforcement to Assess Risk of Domestic Violence Danger

June 1^st several Jackson County Law Enforcement and Domestic Violence agencies will pilot a new tool to help prevent future intimate partner deaths.

Jackson County Safe Family Coalition on behalf of Grandview Police Department; Kansas City Police Department; Lee’s Summit Police Department; Raytown Police Department; Hope House; Rose Brooks Center; and & Synergy Services was selected as one of five regions in the nation to receive the Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence Lethality Assessment Program for First Responders Training and Technical Assistance.

The groundbreaking Domestic Violence Lethality Assessment Program (LAP), a project of the Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence (MNADV), is the first program of its kind for first responders in the United States.  It is an innovative response to research by Dr. Jacquelyn Campbell and Dr. Daniel Webster, which has shown that only 4% of women killed by their abusers had ever received domestic violence program services. They also found that the risk of re-assault of women assessed to be in high danger was reduced by 60% if they went into shelter.

Launched in 2005, the LAP is a proactive approach that encourages victims who are in the gravest danger to seek domestic violence program services.  At the heart of the Program is the Maryland Domestic Violence Lethality Screen and Protocol for First Responders, which offers practical methods of working with victims to assess the level of danger they face and linking high-risk victims to domestic violence programs in their area.

The 11-question “Lethality Screen for First Responders” is a user-friendly, straightforward instrument that predicts danger and lethality to a high degree.   When a victim scores in at “high danger,” the Protocol Referral is put into action.  This is when the law enforcement officer who identifies a victim likely to be in “high danger” makes a phone call from the scene to a domestic violence hotline counselor.

Depending on whether the victim chooses to speak with the hotline counselor, the officer will proceed with one of two responses to address the immediate safety of the victim.  When the victim chooses not to speak with the hotline counselor, the officer will review the factors that tend to predict death so the victim can be on the lookout for them, encourage the victim to contact the domestic violence program, provide the victim with police contact information, and may follow other protocol measures designed to address the victim’s safety.

If the victim chooses to speak with the hotline counselor, the officer responds to the outcome of the telephone conversation between the victim and the counselor, and then the officer or law enforcement agency may become involved in coordinated safety planning with the victim and the counselor. If the victim seeks additional services from the domestic violence program, the program can help them take steps to protect themselves from further harm.

The LAP has sparked national interest through its status as a “Top 50″ program in the 2008 Innovations in American Government competition of the Harvard University’s Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation.

The MNADV is currently providing training and technical assistance to selected collaborating domestic violence programs and law enforcement agencies around the country with funding from a federal Byrne Competitive Grant.  The MNADV also provides fee-based training and technical assistance to other states on an as-requested basis.