Flagler County, FL - Flagler County Sheriff's Office (FCSO) has been awarded a $161,542.26 grant which will fund efforts to investigate and prevent domestic violence.
The grant was awarded to FCSO from the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence after FCSO's Domestic Violence Task Force made its recommendations to find a community-driven solution to combat domestic violence. One of those recommendations was to hire a dedicated detective to focus on domestic violence issues.
Thanks to the grant from the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence, FCSO will be able to hire a new detective and a new crime analyst. Both positions will be solely dedicated to investigating cases of domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking. In addition, the grant will fund a community education initiative to combat domestic violence, according to FCSO.
“Domestic violence is different from other crimes in that the victim knows the offender and is often living with their attacker," Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly says. “Preventing domestic violence requires a special understanding of the warning signs, the risk potential, the dynamics of the domestic relationships, and the tools and processes needed to decrease the likelihood of the offender re-offending.”
FCSO says it responded to 667 domestic violence incidents in 2016. The number of domestic violence-related incidents increased by 7% in 2017. Three of those incidents last year involved domestic-related homicides. Staly says FCSO responds to two to three domestic-related calls a day.
“I believe that the opportunity that this grant is providing to Flagler County is going to make a tremendous difference in the way domestic violence cases are handled and the ability to rehabilitate the offenders so that they do not commit these offenses again,” Staly says. “We will always pursue state and federal grants to reduce the burden on our local taxpayers to fight crime.”
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