Officers, advocates discuss their role in domestic violence

JACKSON, Tenn. — Friday morning, law enforcement along with advocates talk and train about working together in order to prevent and prosecute domestic violence.

“Not just dealing with the specific incident they’re responding to but what has led up to that incident, what are the risks to the victim, and communicating that,” said Capt. Mike Holt with the Jackson Police Department.

As the first on the scene, officers play a crucial role.

“As Marcus Bruning explained today, they’re the first ones on the scene to see it, smell it, feel it,” Wo/Men’s Rape Assistance Program Director Daryl Chansuthus said. “They know. They’re there. They have a sense of what’s happening here, what if felt like, what it looked like.”

Tuesday in Trenton, police said Cedric Pigue shot and killed his wife, Angela, before killing himself. A day before, officers said Angela had filed an order against her husband, and it was to be delivered that afternoon, right before the murder-suicide took place.

While WRAP says you can’t determine if a situation could have been prevented, they’re working on creating a fatality review team.

“If there’s something we might have done differently that we can do next time that might lead to a different outcome, we definitely want to know what that is and implement it as soon as we can,” Chansuthus said.

Capt. Holt said Jackson officers are also working on a lethality assessment program.

“That means they’re at serious risk for serious bodily injury or death. That officer calls the advocate right then and puts them on the phone with the victim,” Capt. Holt said.

Officers say they train to never underestimate the victim’s risk. WRAP says 50 percent of calls to 911 are related to domestic violence.