Across Indiana, there are 52,000 active protective orders against individuals accused or convicted of violent acts against another person.
Most orders are obtained by victims going to a county clerk’s office and filing a petition. Sometimes they have to wait in line before a staffer can help them complete the paperwork. The process can be unnerving, adding frustration to the trauma they’ve already experienced. Victims can feel powerless.
A new pilot program should make the process more accessible and serve as an additional step in helping law enforcement protect the victims.
Madison County has been named one of eight Hoosier counties to test a domestic violence registry pilot program.
In those counties, domestic violence advocates have online access in seeking protective orders on behalf of victims. Trained advocates can file paperwork at anytime, online at a shelter or other office.
For example, Alternatives Inc., an Anderson shelter for abused women, had two staffers, Kandi Floyd and Lisa Connors, deputized by Madison County Clerk Ludy Watkins to handle domestic violence cases. That means, a victim can contact Alternatives at (765) 643-0200 and the shelter can begin the online filing of paperwork.
The process can ease the trauma and lessen the fear for victims.
Alternatives has been using the system since July 7. The filings have gone relatively smoothly. Once an order is issued through the courts, the information is sent to the Indiana Protection Order Registry, which links courts, state police and FBI databases. Local police can better coordinate information on protective orders.
Coordinated through the Indiana Supreme Court, the registry is intended to better protect victims of abuse by combining efforts of law enforcement, county clerks and domestic violence groups.
Indeed, Madison County has seen tragedy in domestic violence.
In 2008, Kristina and Robert Lamberson, of Elwood, filed for divorce. He killed her with a single bullet to the head before turning the gun on himself. They were two of five domestic violence-related deaths in the county that year.
A year earlier in 2007, 65 Hoosiers died as a result of domestic violence and 8,800 adults and children — afraid to stay at home — went to emergency shelters. Such statistics show that court orders are ineffective without that information being sent to police.
In 2007, Madison County saw 1,264 new protective orders filed.
With the pilot registry program, victims have less intimidating access to the courts system.
But the real reason that Madison County was selected may likely be its positive working relationship between the courts and victim advocates.
We hope police will continue their efforts in coordinating information so that an abuser in one part of the county can be tracked in another.
Though the test program has been in use since July, it was formally announced in Madison County on Sept. 14. Since the pilot program kicked off, there have been 439 protective orders requested in the eight counties, according to Indiana Supreme Court Public Information Officer Kathryn Dolan.
Elkhart County is the highest among test counties at 192 requests; Marion County has 96 and Madison County has eight. Though numbers concerning abuse are rarely encouraging, the good point here is that victims are getting help from trained advocates.
Unfortunately, reports of domestic violence will always be with us. But with the new program, which should be expanded statewide, the victims of abuse can feel safer knowing their calls for protection can move more quickly.
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