Multidisciplinary Domestic Violence Team Bridges Gap

By Misty Cryer

Eddy County has a specialized, multidisciplinary team that handles domestic violence cases under one roof, bridging the gap between law enforcement and advocacy.

The Domestic Violence Enhanced Response Team (DVERT) is designed to allow the citizens of Eddy County to have specialized follow-up, advanced investigations, and victim advocacy, with coordinated services for domestic violence cases.

While the concept of a domestic violence response team is not completely new, Sheriff Matt Hutchinson said that the DVERT team that serves Eddy County is the only one that he’s aware of in this area of the state that does anything of this nature. He said that Captain Eric Threlkeld, who he described as a huge advocate of domestic violence victims in the community, brought the plan and idea to him when he took over as sheriff.

“He has invested a huge portion of his life and his career to this, and I commend him for it,” said Hutchinson. “He’s a true professional when it comes to this, and he does truly care; I mean that. That’s why when we talked about it, I was like, I’ve got to get behind him on this one,” he said.

Threlkeld said when he started his career, he got sent out on the street to investigate domestic violence cases without much training. “The basic academy is very minimal.” From the beginning, he said, he realized that a lot of what he was doing wasn’t very effective, because he kept going back to the same house repeatedly, “Even though I didn’t have a lot of training, I knew there’s got to be a better way.”

After working in Alamogordo and Albuquerque, Threlkeld eventually went to work for the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado. “It was there that I got an opportunity to join a specialized team, a domestic violence enhanced response team,” said Threlkeld. “It was really an eye-opening experience for me.”

Threlkeld explained that it was a multidisciplinary team made up of nonprofit advocates, detectives, and patrol officers that would change every 90 days, with a full-time prosecutor and a civilian manager who was housed in an office building that didn’t look like a police station. “It was really designed to make victims feel comfortable in coming to that environment,” he said.

The law enforcement component of the local team consists of a sergeant, a detective, and a deputy who work hand in hand with victim advocates from Affirming Heart Victim Services to vet the cases that come in from patrol or from survivors who come to Affirming Heart for services, Threlkeld explained.

“We always want to make sure that these people understand the complexity of what domestic violence is,” said Hutchinson, mentioning cycles, severity, and lethality. “One big thing that deals with domestic violence is there is always trauma involved in that, that goes beyond the call,” he said.

“Our SPEAK Program, which is our sexual assault and domestic violence services program, we work hand in hand with DVERT,” said Angelia Parent, SANE & DV Nurse for Affirming Heart Victim Services.

“A lot of times, survivors of that type of violence don’t want to share things readily with law enforcement. They are more comfortable having that conversation with an advocate, and our advocates, with their permission, can carry that over to law enforcement,” she said.

The SPEAK program has two bilingual advocates; one specializes in family violence, with the other being a domestic violence and sexual assault advocate.

“My role, as a sexual assault examiner, is to be able to provide medical care for those survivors of violence,” said Parent. She said that bringing everything together under one roof shows they are a team and can probably address the problem from a lot of different angles.

“The agency sent me to advocacy training, where I was able to gain a certification in advocacy and a multitude of trainings that have led into more of a trauma-informed way to work with survivors,” said Detective Don Norton. “Prosecution is not always the goal and the need for every survivor.”

Deputy Steve Binns said his experience with DVERT has been very educational. He said rather than being there “just for the bad guys,” it is more about showing support by extending resources.

“I think it brings a new experience in helping a person who needs help outside of law enforcement. You know, we always say that we need to bridge the gap between law enforcement and the public; I think this is a perfect example of that,” said Sergeant Orlando Moreno.

“It has really helped me and our survivors a lot because we’re able to work the cases a lot better,” said Jeanette Romo, Advocate for Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault. “We’re lucky to have a team like this where we all work together.”

Visit the website for the Affirming Heart Victim Services SPEAK program to learn more about domestic violence: https://www.affirmingheart.com/speak