COLUMN: Los Angeles County must do more to address domestic violence

The Los Angeles Police Department receives 48,088 calls each year in response to domestic violence. Yet, initiatives and funding for this issue have not been effectively prioritized. LAPD must be trained to relocate victims to safe houses and funding must be used to create adequate shelters. Domestic violence is preventable, and our local city officials must do everything in their power to allocate and augment existing resources to bring case rates down.

In the past year, cases of domestic violence in the city of Los Angeles have been strikingly misclassified and underfunded, according to an audit report released late last month by L.A. City Controller Ron Galperin. Despite a $3.2 million increase in funding for domestic violence cases in 2013-14, cases have risen 5 percent this year alone, according to the LAPD, and shelter-based agencies are still lacking. Bold initiatives to combat domestic violence must be implemented in Los Angeles.

The report proves that Los Angeles — in comparison to other major cities — is behind in monetary allocations for initiatives against domestic violence. In the 2013-14 year, Los Angeles spent $3.2 million, whereas San Francisco allocated $4 million towards prevention and intervention programs. In stark contrast, New York spent $107.2 million.

One of the greater issues at hand is the mislabeling of specific cases of domestic violence as “generic assault.” This mischaracterization has led to several cases of prolonged abusive relationships in which it is more difficult for affected individuals to take action. For example, in 2013, auditors found that though the LAPD reported 10,184 cases, there were actually 14,112.

Currently, LAPD tackles cases of domestic violence through Domestic Abuse Response Teams. Though seemingly effective, the model does not adequately respond to callers, as only one out of every 30 callers receives a response, according to the audit. Additionally, the report stated that in the Central, Devonshire, Foothill, Hollywood, Mission, Olympic, Pacific, Topanga, West L.A., West Valley and Wilshire divisions, there were no DART teams available. In 2015, DART teams were reported to work in only 10 of the 21 LAPD stations — showing inconsistency among preventionist efforts. This, too, must be changed.

Recently, Mayor Eric Garcetti has allocated roughly more than $1 million to efforts combatting domestic abuse. Though Garcetti is receptive to these changes by pledging to create a domestic violence working group with city employees to create family justice centers, he fails to take into account what exactly occurs at the time of incidents. Strong backlash for his new pledge lies in the fact that victims require immediate help upon undergoing the stress of domestic violence. Though family justice centers are important, there must be a focus on shelters that provide safe spaces for instantaneous aid.

The audit report clearly defines the major concerns of the inadequate domestic violence preventionist efforts. First, the city lacks a well-equipped governance model that works in accordance with various agencies who offer domestic violence services.

According to the report, “During the 2013-14 fiscal year, San Francisco spent $4.84 per capita in responses to domestic violence with shelters, interventions and education and prevention programs.” New York spent $12.75 per capita in the fiscal year. Los Angeles, on the other hand, is spending $1.04 per capita. If this doesn’t spark some sort of reaction, I don’t know what will.

Galperin provides several adequate recommendations for preventionist and interventionist efforts, highlighting the need to focus on halting domestic abuse, rather than simply working on plans to punish perpetrators. According to Galperin, it is prevention, not reaction, that will spark change. In response to the increase of domestic violence cases — correlated with the spike in arrests by violent action in L.A. this year — it is imperative that the LAPD, city attorney’s office, mayor’s office of public safety, housing and community investment department and the domestic violence task force are reevaluated for the services they offer and receive additional funding for those services.

Making feasible change begins internally. Since the DART force’s creation in 1994, it was intended to allocate $5 million to domestic violence shelters. But as stated in the audit, over the last six years, the city has allocated only $2.5 million on average. This information further highlights the necessity for Galperin’s “comprehensive service delivery system,” which will allow a system that focuses on prioritizing initiatives that will place prevention first and reaction later, without diminishing the importance of either.

Sarah Dhanaphatana is a junior majoring in political science.  She is also deputy features editor of the Daily Trojan. Her column, “Dhanapolitics,” runs Fridays.

The headline of this post has been updated.