|
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, September 10, 2003
| Contact: |
Dee Koester, Law and Justice Planner, Jon Tunheim,
Thurston County Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney 360-786-5540 |
Rural
Domestic Violence Program Receives Grant Funding.
OLYMPIA – Assistance for victims of domestic violence
in the rural areas of southern Thurston County may increase as the result of a
federal grant. The Thurston
County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, in collaboration with the Thurston
County Sheriff’s Office and Safeplace, has received an award from Department
of Justice, Office of Justice Programs-Violence Against Women Office in the
amount of $469,546. The award
will fund a Rural Domestic Violence Pilot Project to implement and enhance
mandatory arrest policies and enforcement of domestic violence protection
orders.
In
the planning phase, an audit will be conducted to recommend improvements that
should be made in the criminal justice system response to domestic violence,
according to Dee Koester of the Thurston County Prosecutor’s Office
“Thereafter, those recommendations will be used to improve victim
advocacy services and the coordination of the criminal justice system in
processing rural domestic violence cases.”
The Prosecutor’s Office received the VAWA
(Violence against Women Act) grant earlier this year. The award is
effective September 1st, 2003 thru August 30, 2005.
|
