Harris
County District Attorney Kim Ogg recognized two major partners in the
fight against domestic violence by donating nearly $442,000 at the
unveiling of a new family violence services
facility.
Ogg
presented the monetary awards Friday to the Harris County Domestic
Violence Coordinating Council and Houston Area Women’s Center in the
amounts of $261,900 and $180,034, respectively.
“The communities that are harmed by crime … deserve to have that money reinvested,”
Ogg told an audience of approximately 60 fellow law enforcement
leaders, community advocates and other stakeholders with roles in
assisting domestic violence survivors. Of the county’s crime drivers,
“domestic violence is one of our toughest to crack,” she
added.
October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
Domestic violence is also known as intimate partner violence, battering, spousal abuse and other terms.
The
donations are “reinvestments” of criminal asset-forfeiture funds, and
they are for specific programming designed to reduce this type of
fatality.
“We know these programs work,” Ogg said.
The award of
$261,900 to the Domestic Violence Coordinating Council
will
fund high-risk mobile advocates. Through its partnership with the DVCC’s
Domestic Violence High Risk Teams in Harris County and in Pasadena, the
District Attorney’s Office prosecutes abusers with
prior offenses to prevent the all-too-common escalation to a fatal
incident.
The $180,034 donation to the Houston Area Women’s Center
will
permit the continued expansion of a call center. Its locally focused
hotline and chat line provide an invaluable resource to victims.
Ogg
noted that 16,000 of the approximately 100,000 cases the DA’s Office
sees annually are felony and misdemeanor domestic violence cases,
including stalking, assault and murder, among other
charges.
Friday’s
gift presentation was part of an open house unveiling the new Family
Violence Services location of the Domestic Violence Division of the
District Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors
and a social worker outlined resources now centrally available at 1200
Congress, including protective orders and safety information, which had
been scattered across various locations during the ongoing courthouse
renovation and the pandemic.
The event concluded with a tour of the space for community partners.
