On March 15th and 16th, 1999, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) Training Division sponsored an award-winning day-long training, which was held twice on consecutive days at the Best Western Inn in Marshall. The Domestic Assault Investigations training covered the dynamics of battering, new laws related to domestic assault, interviewing skills, investigations, report-writing, coordinated community response models, and other law enforcement activities and trends for enhancing the law enforcement response to domestic violence. The training was free to area law enforcement agencies and other criminal justice personnel, and was funded by a special law enforcement training grant made possible by the Violence Against Women Act.
      It was one of six trainings being held throughout the state. The turnout was very successful, totaling about eighty participants for both days. Attending were law enforcement officers and probation personnel, as well as staff from other victim service agencies and batterers' group facilitators in WRAP's service area of Lyon, Lincoln, Redwood, Yellow Medicine, Cottonwood, and Murray counties, and staff from other neighboring counties, including Douglas, Lac Qui Parle and Swift counties. Almost 90% of those attending gave it top scores in the evaluations that were handed out at the end of each day.
      Last year the training was held in six other sites in Minnesota. Recently Julie Brunzell, Special Agent with the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, received a POST (Peace Officers Standards and Training) Board Award for her efforts in bringing this innovative training to law enforcement professionals. The training in Marshall was held in conjunction with the year-long VAWA Rural Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Intervention Project Collaboration Grant, a project which has been underway since October 1998. Marshall PD Director of Public Safety Rob Yant, Lyon County Sheriff Don Stokke, WRAP/CJI Coordinator Linda Castle, and Rose Thelen of the Gender Violence Institute met in January of this year to finalize agreements among their agencies which standardizes their efforts when a domestic violence incident occurs. The protocols outline that WRAP/CJI will be called by officers and/or dispatch every time there is an arrest for domestic violence so the victim can receive immediate advocacy and assistance throughout the court process.
      It also includes provisions regarding:

	the arrest and non-arrest reports
	what and how legal advocacy and other services for battered women will be provided
	the identification of liaisons for the purpose of implementing the agreements and responding to complaints
	annual review of domestic violence policy
	participation in meetings to coordinate a community reponse to domestic violence
	participation by law enforcement in domestic violence training; and
	annual review of the agreements.

      The purpose of the project is to enhance the effective delivery of advocacy services and the law enforcement response to domestic violence. The experience gained through the project will be made available to communities across the country who are exploring ways to hold batterers accountable for their violence while providing for the safety of victims, thereby creating a climate of zero tolerance in the community.

      Rose Thelen has worked in the battered women's movement for the past 18 years, first as an advocate in a battered women's shelter for three years and then as the founder and Coordinator of the St. Cloud Intervention Project where she worked with area law enforcement agencies to develop practices which increased their effectiveness in domestic assault situations.
      As a lobbyist for the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women in 1991, she assisted in the creation and passage of domestic assault policy legislation and served on the committees which developed the State Domestic Abuse Model Arrest Policy and the Model Prosecution Plan. She is past chair of the Minnesota Department of Corrections Advisory Council, has served on the board of the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women and been a consultant to the National Battered Women's Justice Project, Criminal Justice Division. She is also an adjunct faculty member at St. Cloud State University and a Facilitator of Training with National Training Project. Most recently she co-founded and co-operates the Gender Violence Institute. She is the author of two articles on domestic violence.

      Chuck Derry has worked to end men's violence against women since 1983. For ten years he worked with male offenders at the St. Cloud Intervention Project. For six of those years he was the Men's Program Coordinator and developed innovative programming to rehabilitate men who batter. He has worked extensively with criminal justice and human service agencies to develop coordinated policies and procedures for effectively intervening in domestic assault cases.
      Chuck is a trainer and consultant to the National Training Project where he assists organizations and communities throughout the United States to develop effective coordinated responses to domestic violence and rehabilitative programs for men who batter. He has provided law enforcement training with BCA and the National Training Project. He also participated in the development of training films with the Law Enforcement Resource Center and the National Resource Center for use with the Marine Corps and Law Enforcement Officer training. He also provides training at Alexandria Technical College Law Enforcement Program. In 1994 he co-founded the Gender Violence Institute. He lectures on male socialization and violence on campuses throughout the United States, and has authored many articles.

      Scott Jenkins has been a police officer for seventeen years. He is currently on officer with the Duluth Police Department. He is also currently an investigator with the State Major Strike Force-Northeast Minnesota Region. He has also served with Chisago Police Department and Fillmore County Sheriff's Department. He served four years as a team leader and trainer for the Rapid Entry Drug Warrant Team, six years as a K-9 officer, and nine years on the Special Operations Team. He is a graduate of the FBI SWAT team school. He has been involved in training on domestic violence throughout the United States, including three conferences sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice. He participated in the development of domestic violence training films and curriculum development on domestic violence for the Duluth National Training Project and the Law Enforcement Resource Center. He currently serves as a consultant to the city of Los Angeles, and is working to develop criteria for predominant aggressor investigations in domestic assault cases. He was featured in the PBS documentary, "A Women's Place", which talks about domestic violence response.

      Gender Violence Institute assists communities to develop effective responses to the crimes of violence against women. Currently, the Gender Violence Institute has been granted federal Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) funding to provide consultation and training to battered women's criminal justice intervention projects in rural Minnesota, survey statewide prosecutorial responses to domestic violence, and provide training with the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to law enforcement agencies on the issue of domestic violence. Gender Violence Institute also provides training on responding to domestic violence in medical settings and in agencies involved in the dual issues of child welfare and domestic violence.

      A law frequently used to prosecute domestic assault offenders would be expanded under a bill approved Feb. 5 by the House Crime Prevention Committee.

      Under current law, prosecutors can charge a person who interferes with a phone call to a 911 dispatcher with a gross misdemeanor crime. This law is often used against domestic assault offenders who try to prevent their victims from calling the police for help.

      The bill (HF193), Sponsored by Rep, Michael Paymar DFL-St. Paul), would expand the law to include all emergency calls to police, ambulance services, or fire departments, not just calls placed through 911.

      Steven Schleicher, assistant attorney for Winona County, described a domestic assault case that he said demonstrates the need for the bill. In the case, a woman called police when her husband became abusive. The husband grabbed the cordless phone and threw it against the wall.

      When police arrived, they saw the broken phone and arrested the husband for both domestic assault and interference with a 911 call.

      However, because the woman had dialed the seven-digit phone number for the local police department, the suspect could not be charged under the interference law.

      Schleicher said the interference law is an effective tool against domestic assault offenders. He estimated that his office prosecutes about 25 cases a year.

      "Prosecution under this statute as it exists is probably as common as prosecution for domestic assault," he said.

      The bill now goes to the House floor.

      Published in the Session Weekly which is a nonpartisan publication of the Minnesota House of Representatives Public Information Office. Reprinted here with permission.