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NYPD Domestic Violence Cases Not Being Investigated

In 2000, the NYPD launched a much-praised domestic violence database that tracks stalking and violence with the intention of preventing serious domestic assault by assessing threat levels of victims. But this year, the system has become so backlogged that the Department has acknowledged that it is not adequately protecting women, as evidenced by the 16 women who were killed by their partners this year, and who had filed domestic violence complaints with the Department. Of the 290,000 domestic violence reports filed this year, roughly 94,000 cases have not been reviewed by a domestic violence police officer and a commanding officer, as required by the NYPD. In response to the scourge of recent domestic homicides, NYPD Chief, Joseph Esposito, has instructed the Department that they must bring the database entries up to date. Some experts have blamed the backlog on lowered police ranks combined with an increasingly large volume of domestic violence calls; others have pointed to additional NYPD duties as a result of September 11th. While there has been complaint from some officers that the system is too cumbersome, most domestic violence advocates believe that the NYPD’s database is a model threat assessment system when used correctly.

Sources:

New York Daily News, 08/27/02

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