Fall 2024 Newsletter

NOTE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Dear Friends,

At a public safety symposium last month, a prosecutor stood before hundreds of people and declared that he now believed domestic violence homicides are predictable and preventable. This statement represents a paradigm shift.

We are often fed a message when women are killed by their partners that the tragedy comes out of blue and is a momentary “snap” during a stressful time. The underlying message is that there is nothing that could have been done to prevent the tragedy.

For officers, advocates and prosecutors to have impact on reducing domestic violence homicides, they must first believe these deaths are both predictable and preventable.

The research tells us that the escalation of domestic violence to lethal levels follows identified patterns with identifiable indicators.

If we know which cases are most likely to escalate to lethal levels, the system can coordinate their efforts to focus on these cases and increase safety for victims. It is our responsibility to match our response to the level of risk.

The communities highlighted in this newsletter, and so many others like Cleveland, Ohio and Pasadena, Texas, have made this paradigm shift. They have reorganized their domestic violence system to identify the most dangerous cases and put coordinated interventions in place for survivors.

It is our honor to partner with communities in this effort and to reduce the number of preventable deaths due to domestic violence. In my role as Executive Director, we are committed to expanding our approaches, deepening our partnerships with communities and collaborating with organizations while keeping survivors at the lead and center of our work. Together, we will continue to push forward, with a collective commitment to saving lives.

Warmly,

Kelly Dunne

Executive Director

P.S. During this season of gratitude, I want to extend my sincere thanks for your support. If you are interested in making an end-of-year gift to support our work, you can do so here.

Where We Are

In fiscal year 2024, the Geiger Institute provided over 50 trainings to over 1,700 professionals across the country and received requests for training and technical assistance from over 25 jurisdictions.

74 police departments across 10 states have implemented the Danger Assessment for Law Enforcement (DA-LE).

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Partnerships to Advance Domestic Violence Homicide Prevention

Geiger Institute's work in San Antonio discussed on city's La Mesa Roundtable Series

We're beginning to hear more from the team on the ground on how the work is going in San Antonio, our team's largest police department to adopt the Danger Assessment for Law Enforcement (DA-LE).

The partnership is part of a research study funded by the Arnold Foundation. Dr. Jill Messing, MSW, PhD of Arizona State University is the lead researcher on this multi-year project.

The City of San Antonio's video series La Mesa features San Antonians in a round table setting discussing topics that make their City unique. In a new video, they discuss how programs are working together and in partnership with community organizations to prevent and intervene in domestic violence. Watch the video below (beginning at the 23:45 timestamp) and hear about the San Antonio Police Department and agency Metro Health's experience using the DA-LE.

"I'm very happy to say [the DA-LE] is something done by the Geiger Institute, which you know, for domestic violence, you can't get anybody that's got more credibility, and people that are dedicated to this issue."

Deputy Chief Jesse Salame, Chief of Staff, San Antonio Police Department

From Albany to Oneida County - Geiger Institute's work across New York State

In October, we were honored to present at New York State’s conference, Learning the Signs: Assessing the Risk of Lethality in Domestic Violence Cases. Hosted by the New York State Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, this two-day summit in Albany provides law enforcement, attorneys, social services staff, gender-based violence services providers, and other professionals with the tools needed to assess danger in domestic violence cases and use that information to respond in a survivor-centered, trauma-informed, culturally responsive way.

Sarah Galgano, Geiger Institute Senior Project Specialist, and Detective Brandon Wootan of Northern Colorado presented together on the importance of assessing risk in efforts to address lethal and near-lethal intimate partner violence.

In September, we attended the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services’ Public Safety Symposium. Sheriff Robert Maciol from Oneida County presented on their Domestic Violence Fatality Review Team’s experience using the Domestic Violence High Risk Team (DVHRT) model and the DA-LE.

Thank you Sheriff Maciol for your inspiring remarks, and for sharing over 10 years’ of experience with these tools.

We’re grateful for the opportunity to partner with New York State in homicide reduction efforts and are looking forward to future collaborations.

New Podcast Episode:

High Risk Domestic Violence Team/Law Enforcement with Detective Brandon Wootan

You can hear directly from Detective Brandon Wootan of Fort Collins, CO in an interview with The Rising Beyond Podcast. Check out episode 107 at the link below.

Listen now.

Recent Events and Trainings

Georgia's 30th Annual Statewide Family Violence Conference

Team members Tim Boehnlein and Sarah Galgano visited Georgia in August to present at the 30th Annual Statewide Family Violence Conference: Learning from the Past, Forging Ahead Together.

DA-LE Training in Fort Collins, Colorado

In September, senior project specialists Sarah Galgano and Heather Davies traveled to Fort Collins, Colorado for a training on the Danger Assessment for Law Enforcement.

Training on Strangulation in Baltimore, Maryland

The team conducted a virtual strangulation training to four domestic violence agencies in Baltimore, Maryland: House of Ruth, Turnaround, Inc., CHANA and My Covenant Place.

Dual Tragedies: Domestic Homicide-Suicides with a Firearm

"Access to a gun is the centerpiece of the dual tragedies of intimate partner homicide and suicide. Research shows that approximately 90 percent of gun suicide attempts end in death, and access to a gun makes it five times more likely that an abusive male partner will kill his female victim. And while intimate partner homicide-suicide is generally characterized by many precipitating factors and a history of abuse, one of the most common factors in these incidents is that the offender had access to a gun and used it."

Join Us

Research shows that most domestic violence homicides are predictable; and if they are predictable, they are preventable.

If you are interested in partnering with us to create solutions for your community, please reach out to learn more. We are here and can't wait to connect with you.

Investment Opportunities

Charitable support funds a significant portion of our work and is critical to the success of ending domestic violence homicide.

You can help build the future of safer communities and help us to expand our reach and provide communities with tools to save lives.

We have many different opportunities for philanthropic support which can be offered in a variety of ways, including:

Supporting our scaling strategies;
Expanding our technology solutions;
Funding communities to implement homicide reduction strategies.

Thank you for your support!

Contact:

Kelly Majewski

kmajewski@jeannegeiger.org

978-255-9165

Donate Here

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