Henry’s STOP VAW Alliance

Alliance Provides Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Education to All Levels of Partnership

The creation of the Henry STOP VAW Alliance in 2010 (SERVICES - TRAINING - OFFICERS – PROSECUTION of VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN) provides a comprehensive collaboration of professionals dedicated to stopping violence against women and encouraging victims to cooperate with law enforcement, prosecution and the courts to see justice served on their abusers. It is a difficult task made not easier, but more likely to succeed, by the cooperation of six “stakeholder” groups that augment their resources with a STOP VAWA grant from the Department of Justice’s Office of Violence Against Women, which is serviced in Georgia by the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council.

Henry’s STOP VAW Alliance is composed of the Henry County Police Department, the Henry County District Attorney’s Office, the Henry County Solicitor’s Office, the Henry County Court System, the Haven House and the Southern Crescent Sexual Assault Center. These stakeholders work together to ensure that Henry County victims acquire needed services and that their abusers bear responsibility for their actions. With daily communication, extensive training, victim outreach, and access to technology, the stakeholders can follow a domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, or dating violence case from inception to conclusion. This ensures that women victims are heard and helped, and abusers are brought to justice.

“The victim needs to know and believe that she has rights and resources to come out of an abusive situation…” says former Henry County Solicitor Chuck Spahos. The words are simple, but ground-breaking in their approach because of their intended audience, law enforcement officers. Although the police academy trains officers in the enforcement of immediate victim safety, they are not typically trained in depth of the resources available to VAWA victims to recover and remove themselves and their families from the cycle of abuse. The need for victim advocacy at all levels of the criminal process is very real. In Henry County, they have a plan regarding victims of violence against women.

Under the auspices of the VAWA grant, the stakeholders provide and procure training from each other and from outside of the jurisdiction. Chief Superior Court Judge Arch McGarity attended a seminar in New Mexico entitled, “Enhancing Judicial Skills in Domestic Violence Cases,” where he and 90 other judges from across the nation learned methods to identify administrative and community barriers to accessing/achieving justice in domestic violence cases. Because the grant allowed the judge to attend this valuable senior-level training, he was then able to return home and provide synthesized information to a direct stakeholder audience of first responders, detectives, and victim advocates. Annually organized by court administrator Kelly Bush, this judicial and prosecutorial training for law enforcement is unique to Henry County, and is viewed as instrumental in its ability to foster further collaboration and communication techniques among the stakeholders.

Training being composed by and for the stakeholders means that victim advocates are also valuable instructors for law enforcement. Training sessions feature Samantha Duncan of the Haven House and Monica Evans of the Southern Crescent Sexual Assault Center who provide shelter updates and new and regular services offered by their respective entities for victims of violence against women. The advocates also explain necessary protocols for victims’ services and detail the roles of other potential stakeholders within each case, such as hospital staff and the Department of Family and Children’s Services (DFACS).

This training also includes a segment about the Georgia Victim’s Bill of Rights (H.B. 567, 2010, O.C.G.A. §17-17-1 through 16). Although this law pertains to all victims, it is particularly important for women victims of violent crime in that they can receive notification of the accused’s arrest, release, or escape; have a legal means of protesting said release; and can access victim’s compensation. Other trainings within the scope of the grant include a 40-hour P.O.S.T.-certified domestic violence/sexual assault training for law enforcement officers; quarterly roll call training (presented by Sgt. Keith Shumate of the HCPD Special Victims’ Unit and/or Sonya Richey the VAWA Liaison); bi-lingual resource training for representatives of all stakeholders; court behavior and protocol (presented by Chief State Court Judge Ben Studdard); and inclusion in local area DV and SA Task Forces, both in English and Spanish. The ability to cross-train all stakeholders in services provided to women victims of violent crime ensures that Henry County’s practices and procedures are operationally sound and that system professionals are victim-dedicated no matter what their function.