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San Francisco Family Violence Council highlights zero domestic homicides this year and new interventions
Summary
City's Family Violence Council presented its 2011 comprehensive report to the Police Commission and Commission on the Status of Women, reporting new data codes, a 52-week child-abuse intervention program, a phone app for elder-abuse resources and, officials said, zero domestic violence homicides so far this calendar year.
Julie Hsu, president of the Commission on the Status of Women, and representatives of the Family Violence Council presented the 2011 comprehensive report to a joint session of the San Francisco Police Commission and the Commission on the Status of Women on Dec. 5.
Emily Murase, executive director of the Department on the Status of Women, said the oversight work that followed a string of domestic homicides a decade ago has produced measurable results. "We have gone from 10 domestic homicides to, this year so far, 0," Murase said, noting the panel's role in improving coordination among city agencies.
Panel members described operational changes and new services. Kathy Baxter, director of the San Francisco Child Abuse Council, said new 911 coding implemented in February 2011 lets emergency dispatchers distinguish child-abuse calls from broader domestic-violence calls, a change agencies moved to adopt within months. "When we looked at the Department of Emergency Management, everything that came to us was labeled domestic violence," Baxter said; the new codes have allowed the city to document calls specifically as child abuse.
Speakers also highlighted a new 52-week child-abuse intervention program developed in collaboration with Adult Probation and the mayor's office; the council said 23 people have been screened into the first cohort. Beverly Upton, executive director of the San Francisco Domestic Violence Consortium, noted a range of multidisciplinary efforts, including a planned Children's Advocacy Center in the Bayview and a smartphone app for elder-abuse resources that the panel said will connect survivors quickly with supports.
Panel members emphasized data-sharing and multidisciplinary training as next steps. The council plans to expand reporting to include sheriff's department and school district data so future reports will reflect a broader cross-section of the city's responses to child, elder and domestic abuse.
