Domestic violence grant gets renewed

MINERAL COUNTY – A variety of services for the victims of domestic abuse will be able to continue in Mineral County, after a grant from the Department of Justice was recently renewed.

According to Marcia Boris, the county attorney, the grant is classified as a Rural Domestic Violence Grant. It was originally approved for three years in 2012, getting split between Mineral and Missoula Counties. With the renewal, it will now expire in 2018. The money is intended for programs and assistance with fighting domestic abuse in the counties.

“We were really excited to get it and to continue to support victims and prosecute domestic violence and sexual offenses appropriately,” said Boris.

Mineral County’s share of the grant has two main objectives. The first is to fund a victim and witness advocate to help people through the process of the courts – the advocate also helps with protection orders and acts as a liaison with victim or witness compensation services.  The second objective is to contract a special victims detective through the Mineral County Sheriff’s Office.

Boris noted the county takes a victim-centered approach to cases of domestic violence and sexual abuse. This means they try to investigate the case to give the victim’s side of the story as much visibility and clarity as possible.

“I think there’s a set of standards that we’re trying to implement here in giving victims of domestic violence an opportunity to have a say in what goes on and just make sure their voice is heard,” said Charlee Thompson, the victim advocate. “I think in the past that kind of gets lost in the legal system.”

She also noted the county did not always have the funds in the budget to bring some of these services to residents on its own. Before the grant many of these services were offered for free, such as Thompson’s services as advocate. This tended to lead to other issues, though, and was not a great solution to the problem. As a result, the grant is useful to get help to the people who need it.

This grant cycle, additional money was provided for the investigator position. Up to now, the county has been responsible for funding the position itself. Having the grant cover this is good for the county as it removes the position from their budget considerations for the year.

According to Boris, Missoula County’s government approached them for the original partnership. Since the two counties are in the same judicial district the courts typically see the same judges and the programs are held to the same standards; as a result, coordinating their domestic violence programs made sense.