Slaughter Announces $1,027,314 Grant to Prevent Violence Against Women

Washington, DC - Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-Fairport), Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee, is pleased to announce that Erie County has received a grant of $1,027,314 to launch a joint program along with Cattaraugus County designed to prevent violence against women. The grant was provided by the Department of Justice through its Grants to Encourage Arrest Policies Program.  

"With the passage of the Violence Against Women Act in 1994, our nation took a major stand in defense of the human rights of half of its population," Rep. Slaughter said. "We've come a long way since then, and generous grants like these will help dedicated law enforcement programs to further their aims of making unopposed violence targeting women a thing of the past," she added.

Law enforcement authorities in both Counties, in conjunction with several non-profit organizations, will work together to effectively remove jurisdictional lines between the two counties in the enforcement of protection orders and the supervision of domestic violence offenders.

The money from the Grant will serve four functions. It will be used to further the implementation of the Erie County Order of Protection Unit (consisting of a domestic violence specialist, a probation officer, a Native American sheriff's detective, and a domestic violence victim advocate.) It will create a parallel Order of Protection Unit in Cattaraugus County. It will enhance the monitoring of batterers who are subject to stay-away orders of protection. And it will provide training to all law enforcement agencies within the two counties on topics relating to primary aggressor identification and full faith and credit.  

The Grants to Encourage Arrest Policies and Enforcement of Protection Orders Program (Arrest) implements certain provisions of the Violence Against Women Act. The program enhances victim safety and offender accountability in cases of domestic violence and dating violence by encouraging jurisdictions to implement mandatory and pro-arrest policies as an effective domestic violence intervention that is part of a coordinated community response. An integral component of Arrest Program initiatives is the creation and enhancement of collaborative partnerships between criminal justice agencies, victim service providers, and community organizations which respond to domestic violence.