Pearl Crisis Center CI Report – Interim

What has been most instrumental to your progress?

During this year we were fortunate to receive a new DV Court Judge who presides over cases from post-arraignment through sentencing and compliance. This practice improves decision-making and ensures consistent and efficient case handling. She is fully committed to making the DV Court successful by educating herself through training opportunities. The judge and the director of victim services now co-chair the Family Violence Coordinating Council. This ensures the judge understands victim centered approaches when new strategies are introduced. Advocates also meet regularly with the judge to educate her on best practices and safety concerns when ruling from the bench.

Another instrumental component of our project is our DV Court Surveillance Officer who provides surveillance to the offenders enrolled in the court as well as assuring the safety of victims. Intensive judicial supervision of these cases enables the court to hold offenders accountable by promoting compliance with orders of protection and other court mandates, such as program attendance, and to swiftly respond to violations. Through his skilled knowledge of domestic violence, he can mentor other officers who may not fully understand the dynamics of domestic violence.

Lastly, our coordinated community response, known as the Mille Lacs County Family Violence Coordinating Council (MLCFVCC) has grown in attendance to 70 members. Our coordinated community response, the MLCFVCC involves increased information sharing, communication and coordination among criminal justice agencies and community-based social services; a consistent and collaborative response to domestic violence; and more opportunities for continued education and training on domestic violence and the courts. Historically relationships between several members of this council has been adversarial but through this project trust has begun to grow as well as a unified understanding of the complexities of domestic violence.

Key lessons learned

One key lesson learned is the system does not move forward as fast as our goals and objectives want them to. We knew going into this it was going to be difficult and that change is often hard for people, not to mention a huge government entity as the court system. Advocates who have worked in the field of domestic violence clearly understand the needs of victims and historically, in our county have not been listened to nor asked for input on victim centered approaches in the court system. Through this project it has become clearer to advocates that they are not even considered “experts” in this issue by various systems-how disheartening. Advocates can see the overall effects of what victims go through as they spend countless hours with victims and get to know details of their case that is seldom, or never shared with the system often due to surmounting shame that society puts upon them. As mentioned above advocates are making progress in this area but clearly this will take a lot longer than we anticipated. When advocates brought this issue up in a meeting with judges one replied “advocates are not of the system therefore the system doesn’t really know what to do with you.”

Another lesson learned was how little we know about our legal system itself and their decisions to charge domestic violence cases. It really goes to show that whoever resides in the power position of decision making and their knowledge (or compassion) of domestic violence will decide the fate of a victim’s future. If domestic violence is not a priority for leaders in the court system victims will remain vulnerable to violence. Too many plea bargains give offenders a “get out of jail free card” to reinforce violence against women isn’t that serious thus allowing gaps in keeping victims safe. A strong message of domestic violence will not be tolerated in our community is vital and the system must reinforce the message. Too often this issue becomes political as those who are leading decision makers are politicians and their actions are often tied to ensuring a majority vote amongst their constituents. In other words, they often play all sides to keep everyone happy to ensure victory during the next election. Domestic violence should not play a part in politics but rather seen as a public health issue.

Reflections on inclusive, collaborative or resourceful problem-solving

Collaborative has been most important to making progress with our project. There are so many players involved in a domestic violence case. From the 911 operator to final disposition not to mention pre-911 calling and post effects once the case is complete. Rarely do victims call at the first sign of abuse but rather years later. Once a call is made it can take several months or years before the criminal justice system is no longer a part of their lives. Not to mention the long-term effects victim suffer for years after the violence has stopped. Therefore, between the pre-and post-there are so many people who are involved or effected by the case. To make any kind of change in making the process easier for victims all those players “must” be on board and open to changing how the system responds to domestic violence. We have been fortunate to have 70 community and system members at the table trying to make necessary changes for victims to feel heard, validated and safe. We continually focus on victim centered approaches when discussing solutions and members are dedicated to this project. High attendance still occurs at monthly meetings as well as the subcommittees.

Other key elements of Community Innovation

n/a

Understanding the problem

Yes. We realize that not everyone is accepting to change and locked into policies that need to be evolved. There is still a “good ole boy” mentality within some systems that needs addressing but fear holds us back. We realize the need to address jurisdiction issues when the surveillance officer isn’t allowed to enter another county when the offender crosses county lines, the need to come to a consensus on a lethality tool for law enforcement to use when responding to a domestic call, and the need to broaden the criteria for entrance into the DV Court. Lastly, the Mille Lacs County’s “cooperative law enforcement agreement” with the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe has not been renewed, and not sure when it will be. What this essentially means is that if there is no “law enforcement agreement” between the county and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, the Mille Lacs Band Police Department will no longer be able to enforce state laws within the boundaries of the 61,000-acre reservation or trust land, causing increased demands on local law enforcement agencies and probation officers. Tribal Police can still respond but must wait for county deputies to arrive before an “official” arrest.

If you could do it all over again…

If we could go back to the start of our grant period there are a few things I would have liked to be done differently. I would have liked to take a bit more time before implementing the DV Court. The group took the model from Stearns County and copied it without giving more attention to our uniqueness. I wish we would have done systems mapping before implementing the DV Court and spent more time on developing a screening tool to use when deciding which offenders should be enrolled in DV Court rather than copying Stearns. I wish we would have spent more time building collaborations with the Mille Lacs Band to encourage proper representation of their population at our meetings. This part especially would have been so important as the Mille Lacs Band is a large part of our community and is in our service area. If trust would have been built prior to the non-renewal of the cooperative agreement maybe there could have been some salvageable relationships amongst system members and band members.

One last thought

I just want to say that having this opportunity through the Bush Foundation has been one of the most rewarding experiences during my time at Pearl. Too often grants are micromanaged and uncooperative to changes in the budget and/or objectives. The Bush Foundation clearly understands the unique needs of each community and is willing to trust communities to make decisions that are best for them. Without this opportunity, we would not have been able to accomplish all I mentioned. Thank you for trusting our group that we are making sound decisions that will be for the betterment of all those effected by domestic violence and our community will be safer because of it.