October 4th, 2016 by WCBC Radio

The Governor’s Office of Crime Control & Prevention today announced that it has been awarded $520,000 in cooperative agreement funding from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), through the OVW’s Improving Criminal Justice Responses Program.

Together with the Baltimore Police Department, House of Ruth Maryland, Office of the State’s Attorney for Baltimore City, and the Baltimore Child Abuse Center, the Governor's Office of Crime Control & Prevention applied for and received this competitive grant funding, which will assist in providing coordinated and improved responses to victims of domestic violence and teen victims of sexual assault, as well as their families. The project began October 1.

“We at the Governor’s Office of Crime Control & Prevention are pleased to be working with partners in Baltimore City to further our state’s efforts to combat domestic violence, sexual assault, and other violent crimes against women, and to hold offenders accountable,” said Glenn Fueston, executive director of the Governor’s Office of Crime Control & Prevention. “No one group can do it alone; an effective response to domestic violence begins with strong and effective coordination of public and private agencies, and these funds will allow us to do just that.”

The funds will enable Baltimore City to work toward enhancing their criminal justice response to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking crimes to further improve prosecutorial outcomes, provide enhanced attention for victims of these crimes, strengthen training for law enforcement and prosecution, centralize coordination of law enforcement units, and augment comprehensive victim services.  

In addition, the funds will allow for the co-location of one staff member from the House of Ruth Maryland, the Office of the State’s Attorney for Baltimore City, and the Baltimore Police Department’s Family Crimes Unit to be housed at the Baltimore Child Abuse Center. These efforts will further be enhanced by regular on-site, in-service training for all partners in recognizing, investigating, and prosecuting instances of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking, provided by experts within the House of Ruth Maryland, Baltimore Child Abuse Center, and Office of the State’s Attorney for Baltimore City.