Pearl Crisis Center CI Report – Interim

What has been most instrumental to your progress?

Hiring a DV Court Surveillance Officer. We were able to find the “perfect” fit for our DV Court Surveillance Officer position. This officer has the right disposition and character that is needed to ensure the project succeeds. He is a deputy Sheriff and spent several years in Colorado working side by side with victim advocates. He understands domestic violence on all levels and is actually helping to educate other officers in our county on the issue. He is also helping to bridge the gap between advocates and law enforcement that has historically been compromised and strained. The participants enrolled in the DV Court have commented on how the officer respects them but firm. Victims seem to trust in his ability to keep them safe and have commented they are beginning to trust the system. The officer is a very “likable” individual who is genuine and compassionate about his work. He gets numerous praises from the entire MLCFVCC (Mille Lacs County Family Violence Coordinating Council) members.

Consistent monthly/bi monthly MLCFVCC meetings. One of the successes of the project is our 52 member team, from 13 differing community agencies/groups, including some representation from the Mille Lacs Band that consistently meet to discuss the DV Court project as well as domestic violence in our community. Since writing the grant new members have joined. It is amazing that after two years this huge group of people continue to come to the meetings. I co-chair the group and always comment at the beginning of each meeting how I’m so impressed by everyone’s consistent commitment to addressing/reducing domestic violence. These meetings allow key players of the DV Court to present on their specific area in which they work in the DV Court as well as address issues that may have arisen from the last meeting, (successful or unsuccessful).

The Courage Chest Activity. After attending the Bush Connect we were inspired to develop a tool that would allow people in the MLCFVCC meetings the opportunity to voice their thoughts. Even though most of the people who have been attending the meeting for over two years still do not feel comfortable fully sharing their thoughts and/or concerns with everyone in the room. People are often afraid to say what they really feel as their boss or supervisor is in the room, or their gender or race inhibits them from speaking up, or they have been shamed in past meetings for speaking up. So I created the courage chest. At each meeting attendees are given a blank slip of paper in which they can write anything down (they don’t put their name on it), crinkle it up and toss it into the chest (a large box placed in the middle of the room). Then at each meeting the Pastor draws one or two slips and reads the message to the group. We have been doing this for three months and I can see an increase of openness to share. It is easier to comment on a comment that isn’t mine.

Key lessons learned

Don’t take things personally and we do not “all” see through the same lens. So often in the group things are said that may go against my values or beliefs. Or a remark may be said about my opinion during a discussion that I feel is shaming which causes me to shut down. So I have really worked hard in letting my voice be heard without taking other’s remarks personally. As the group builds trust I hope this diminishes. Historically in our community administration (power/authority positions) have or continue to be held by men. So often decisions are based upon specific gender thoughts and beliefs, making it hard for many of the women in the room to speak up. Being an advocate for victims of violence for over 20 years has been challenging and sometimes I forget that others don’t always see victims through the same lens as victim advocates. This project has helped us remember that and that we need to always be teachers as well as students.

Another lesson is from the logistics of our DV Court project. In developing the selection criteria for offenders to enter into the DV Court project we (advocates) feel this isn’t working as well as we would have liked. From the advocates’ point of view, we feel the screening process is defective. In other words, we know of very dangerous offenders in our community but because they do not have a prior felony they are not eligible to enroll into the DV Court. We did have a recent meeting regarding the screening process and due to legality issues and concerns we were not successful in tweaking the enrollment process. For instance, we felt that offenders who use strangulation, but do not have a prior felony should be enrolled into DV Court. This idea failed. First, due to the fact that probation needs funding to hire a full time DV Court probation officer (as with this criteria the caseload goes up for the existing part-time officer) and second, the group wants to keep the number enrolled small for at least the first year or two. For advocates, this leaves safety loop holes for victims.

Reflections on inclusive, collaborative or resourceful problem-solving

Thus far “collaborative” and “resourceful” has been most important in making progress in our work. I wish inclusive was included as I mentioned in the previous questions but not all members of what our community looks like are at the table, but this is an area we are beginning to work on. This project would not have been successful without the collaborative effort of those that have been coming for over two years. Those dedicated members have time, effort and strong compassion for making our community a safer place to live for everyone while ensuring safety nets and resources are in place. With such a large group there is always new information or new resources available for victims and the offenders.

Other key elements of Community Innovation

Not at this time.

Understanding the problem

For sure the validity of offender phone calls from jail to their victims. For years advocates have reported that offenders call their victims from jail. For many people this seems crazy as how can someone in jail, the very place that is supposed to protect victims, can get threatening calls from their perpetrator. Thanks to this project, and our surveillance officer this issue has come to light and validated by all systems. Actually the most violations that offenders enrolled in DV Court commit has been jail phone calls to victims who have protection orders. No longer can this be swept under rug. Therefore, heighten security on jail phone calls and a new voice recognition system has been installed in the jail.

The other area is validating the complexities of domestic violence cases when children are involved. And how abusers can still control their victim through the children even while enrolled in DV Court. Children’s issues and behind the scene threats to victims are becoming clearer, and validated with the help of the surveillance officer.

If you could do it all over again…

For sure to have the hard talks right away. I feel when we began this group we knew why we were there but were afraid to talk openly about hard topics because trust had not been built. There is a lot of history (good and bad) with several of the agencies within the group that need to be mended in order to move forward and communicate openly. There is also historical animosity amongst the Band and county leaders due to boundary disputes. As there are leaders within the group that represent the county and the Band maybe we should have begun to piece that apart as well. Most recently, the cooperative agreement that the band has with our local law enforcement was not renewed by our county causing tremendous anger and distrust amongst band members and even community members not affiliated with the band. Unfortunately, this pushed us back even farther with our attempts to bring more band members to the MLCFVCC meetings. We live in a small, rural, conservative community which is not always open to differences. So in conclusion, I would have tried to be more inclusive to all groups from the very beginning and worked harder at making solid connections that could weather these storms.

One last thought

Yes, just want to say how valuable this experience has been for me (and my agency). Just speaking for us this has opened the door for so many new relationships within the system and is helping to mend broken ones as well. In my 16 year career here at Pearl this is the first time we have so many people coming together to address domestic violence. I’m extremely thankful and grateful for this opportunity.