LOUISVILLE, KY. (WDRB) -- It's a violent scenario police and other first responders say they see all too often -- a mother and her two children are shot and killed inside their home, and the boys' father, according to police, confesses to the murders. That's the type of violent outcome a new partnership among LMPD, The Center for Woman and Families, and the Mary Byron Foundation hopes to prevent.
Back in July in PRP, 26-year-old Sadé Goldsmith, 6-year-old John, and 5-year-old Jon'tee Devine were shot and killed. Police believe the boys' father, John Devine, planned to commit suicide and shot himself in the upper chest, but he survived.
Preventing such tragedies is LMPD's goal in adopting a national program called The Lethality Assessment Program for First Responders in Louisville. The Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence has used the program since 2005, and it has since been adopted by 140 law enforcement agencies nationwide.
LMPD made the announcement on Thursday. Chief Steve Conrad explained, "This program gives us tools we've not had before. To ask questions we've not asked before, and most importantly it gives us immediate access to victims' advocates at the Center for Women and Families who can provide the kinds of advice, and more importantly the kinds of resources that domestic violence victims need to get out of their situation."
According to Maryland's website for the program, it features a series of procedures for officers when they respond to a domestic call. If the officer believes the victim's life could be in danger, the officer asks a series of 11 questions that research has found can predict whether the victim is in danger.
If the answers show a high level of danger for the victim, the officer calls a domestic violence hotline and encourages the victim to speak to the hotline worker. If the victim doesn't want to talk to the hotline worker, the officer speaks privately to the victim, encouraging the conversation. If the victim still doesn't want to talk, the officer gives the victim contact information and may make followup phone calls or visits.
If the victim does speak to the hotline worker, the victim may ask for help immediately or later. Once again, officers may make followup phone calls or visits.
Maryland officials say over the past three years, they have seen a 41 percent drop in "intimate partner" homicides. Over the past five years, 59 percent of the high-danger victims spoke to a hotline worker, and 31 percent of those victims sought help. Previously, only four percent of eventual homicide victims had ever used the services of domestic violence programs.
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