Women and their dependent children are in greater danger once the woman gets a domestic violence protective order. The number of domestic violence cases has dramatically increased in recent years. Correspondingly, the Civil Division of the Sheriff's Office found it difficult to keep up with the rising demand time needed to serve and enforce protective orders. The aims of our domestic violence program are to increase the percentage of domestic protective orders served, increase trust of domestic violence victims, decrease the incidence of repeat offenders, decrease the number of victims who drop out of the system, increase education and treatment of domestic violence victims, and increase education of male inmates about domestic violence. In July, the program received a special award for effectiveness and efficiency from the National Association of Counties.
Average time spent per order is two hours.
The special unit made up of eight deputies serves the orders and works closely with victims to help them understand what to do if they are threatened and how to work with other community resources including The Shelter for Battered Women . Another part of this program is to ensure that all male and female inmates in Mecklenburg County Jails receive domestic violence awareness education. The inmates increased their before and after awareness scores from 57.25 percent to 94.46 percent. Additionally, some 250 educational sessions have been held for 2,468 female inmates as well as 354 individual counseling sessions. The sessions are conducted by staff of The Shelter for Battered Women .