- Photo Contest Winner: The Abington Township Police Department
        - President declares "National Community Policing Week"
        - Story: High Point, NC, Offender Focused Domestic Violence Initiative
        -  Responding to Minority Youth
        -  Halloween and “Deltopia” Made Safer by UCIV Volunteer Program
        - 21st Century Policing Forum: In “Protecting the Rights of LGBTQ+ People” 

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### COPS Office Microgrant Success Story: High Point, NC, Offender Focused Domestic Violence Initiative

In 2013, the COPS Office funded High Point, North  Carolina Police Department (HPPD) for the strategy and evaluation of the High  Point Offender Focused Domestic Violence Initiative (OFDVI). The OFDVI strategy  targets the domestic violence offender to reduce repeat domestic violence  incidents, reported assaults, injuries, and deaths. The strategy involves  classifying domestic violence intimate partner offenders in specific categories  based on their history of offending, and then directly communicating strong  community standards while ensuring swift and effective consequences for future  violence.     Since 2010 the HPPD has partnered with the  University of North Carolina-Greensboro (UNCG) as a research partner for the  OFDVI Initiative. UNCG conducted the original research of arrest records for  chronic intimate partner (IP) domestic violence offenders in High Point. Data  analysis revealed these offenders had records for both domestic and  non-domestic violence, supplying the HPPD the necessary data that chronic  domestic violence offenders had the necessary legal levers available to enforce  focused deterrence messaging. 

     At that time the HPPD began building partnerships  with services agencies, the court system, probation and parole, the community,  and researchers that were all familiar with and impacted by the issue of  domestic violence. The OFDVI workgroup was formed to address gaps and problems  associated with the overall strategy, track offenders and discuss victim needs  to make certain that domestic violence offenders received stiff, certain, and  swift consequences for repeated domestic violence offenses and that victims are  protected. The OFDVI workgroup discussions are critical in the identification  of gaps in services, and have led to changes in systems that address victim  safety and more effective intervention with offenders. 

     Since the inception of the OFDVI strategy, the HPPD  has documented a 17 percent recidivism rate among domestic violence offenders  who have been notified through the strategy since April 2012. Domestic violence  assaults with injuries decreased significantly since strategy implementation.  The percentage of total domestic violence arrests with injuries reported to the  victims decreased from 46.5 percent in 2011 to 30.4 percent in 2013.

     Since beginning work in 2009, High Point has had two  intimate partner domestic violence– related homicides, compared to 17 from  2004-2008. The first happened in 2013. That family had recently moved to High  Point from Ethiopia. There were no calls for service to the residence, no  Department of Social Services calls, and no emergency room visits; thus there  were no early intervention point of contact with this family that HPPD could  have used to know about the ongoing domestic violence within this family. The  second happened in 2015 in a hotel room. The victim, a resident of another North  Carolina city, was strangled in the hotel room. The offender, a sometime  resident of High Point and other North Carolina cities, had no previous domestic  violence offenses. While the victim had been a previous victim of IP violence  in another city, it was with a previous partner and HPPD had no access to the  victim for advocacy.

     With the profound  evidence-based results, the HPPD has received tremendous interest from numerous  law enforcement agencies across the United States requesting assistance with  implementing the OFDVI strategy. At present time, HPPD is working with the  Lexington Police (NC) Department in implementing the OFDVI strategy as a result  of funding from the COPS office. Interest in implementation has been  expressed by agencies such as Chula  Vista, California; Washoe County  Sheriff's Office (Reno, Nevada); Buncombe County, North  Carolina; Guilford County Sheriff’s Office (Greensboro, North Carolina); and  many others.

     The full Evaluation  of the Offender Focused Domestic Violence Initiative (OFDVI) in High Point, NC  & Replication in Lexington, NC is available online.

Timothy  Ellenberger  Captain, Major Crimes Section  High Point Police Department

Stacy  Sechrist, Ph.D. and John Weil  University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Nazmia  Comrie  Senior Program Specialist  The COPS Office

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 Photo Contest Winner: The Abington Township Police Department | President declares "National Community Policing Week" |  Story: High Point, NC, Offender Focused Domestic Violence Initiative | Responding to Minority Youth | Halloween and “Deltopia” Made Safer by UCIV Volunteer Program | 21st Century Policing Forum: In “Protecting the Rights of LGBTQ+ People” 

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