Promise Place, a domestic violence awareness group, recently celebrated local law enforcement officials at an “Appreciation Luncheon.”
Collaboration between law enforcement and local domestic violence programs is an important component to victim safety, said Wendi Bozeman, director of volunteer services/ fundraising coordinator for Promise Place.
Promise Place exists to prevent domestic violence through awareness programs, educational training and providing safe environments for the victims and their families. But many victims have first contact with law enforcement officials who can point them toward help at locations like Promise Place.
Out of the domestic violence fatalities in Georgia in 2013, 76 percent of the victims had contact with law enforcement while only 16 percent had contact with a local domestic violence program, Bozeman said. Fayette and Spalding counties law enforcement are working to bridge that gap between police contact and programs designed to offer help.
Georgia is currently ranked 9th in the nation for the rate at which women are killed by men.
Pictured at the Jan. 13 luncheon are (left to right);
Vanessa Wilkins – Executive Director for Promise Place
Tamia White – Fayette County Legal Advocate for Promise Place
Crystal – Survivor of domestic violence
Chief Ken Troisi – Southern Crescent Technical College Campus Police Department
Sheriff Wendell Beam – Spalding County Sheriff’s Office
Sheriff Barry Babb – Fayette County Sheriff’s Office
Chief Scott Pitts – Fayetteville Police Department
Capt. Stan Pye – Peachtree City Police Department
Lt. Philip Nelson- Tyrone police Department
Tammy Bradberry – Senior Legal Advocate for Promise Place