Response team halts domestic homicides

SALEM – Essex County District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett often says domestic violence is homicide waiting to happen.Others in the business of keeping spouses and children safe from dangerous family members and intimate partners agree, but preventing tragedy isn’t always easy or possible.That’s why the accomplishments of Newburyport’s High Risk Response Team has drawn attention among the professional community concerned with reducing domestic violence. The model has been adopted in Lynn, Peabody, Salem and other Massachusetts towns and cities.Comprised of Newburyport-area police, probation officers, prosecutors, hospital personnel, advocates and batterer intervention specialists, the team has effectively prevented domestic homicides since its inception in 2005.According to Blodgett, the team reviews and creates a preventative response for domestic violence victims deemed most at risk of being murdered. Team members meet monthly to evaluate cases using a research based screening tool that identifies the red flags of homicidal risk between intimate partners. Indicators include whether the victim has been strangled previously by the partner, the presence of weapons and the making of threats to kill.The team then develops a preventative plan that may include additional police surveillance, probation conditions or GPS monitoring, the prosecutor said.”Domestic violence is homicide waiting to happen,” reiterated Blodgett. “The High Risk Team brings professionals together with a common purpose to provide enhanced support and services to those who need it the most and to inform the court of the most dangerous offenders who need containment, monitoring or conditions placed on them to help victims to live safely within their own community.”The Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center, serving nine communities in greater Newburyport, last week released a four-year report examining the Newburyport High Risk Response Team and its effectiveness preventing domestic violence homicides. Blodgett said there have been no intimate partner murders since the team was formed, and of the 78 cases deemed to be high risk since then, only six known instances of re-offense of another domestic assault were reported.”Pulling all the partners together to share information is the key to the success of this model,” said Suzanne Dubus, executive director of the Geiger Crisis Center. “We may come from different perspectives, but we’re all concerned with the same issue of keeping families safe in their home without having to flee to shelter at the same time we hold batterers accountable. It’s a model that works and works well. The High Risk Response Team is saving lives.”Based on the success of the High Risk Response Team model, the Geiger center was named as a national model of best practices at the National Summit to End Domestic Violence in November 2009.A strong proponent of prevention and early intervention to prevent crime, Blodgett described the High Risk Response Team as a powerful tool in helping to halt domestic homicide. It has also improved law enforcement, changing how investigators approach domestic violence cases, interview witnesses and gather evidence, he said.