Domestic violence task force reports milestones

Gathered to kick off its awareness month, the Austin/Travis County Domestic Violence Task Force reported important progress since the difficult days of 2020.

After a record number of requests for protective orders during the pandemic – and a record number of cases pending – the court now has the fewest cases pending in recent history, County Attorney Delia Garza said.

In that time period, the conviction rate for family violence crimes increased from 43 percent to 87 percent, District Attorney José Garza said. He credited “the finest public servants in the state, working here in Travis County government.”

The county attorney says the protective order logjam was cleared by redirecting resources, creating new positions within the protective order and domestic violence divisions, and new resources from the Travis County Commissioners Court.

“We reduced the time it takes for an applicant to receive a protective order by more than half,” she said.

Plans to simplify filing for protective orders, which she described as “not an easy process,” are in progress.

“I think soon we’ll be able to open Travis County’s first family justice center,” she said. “It will be a one-stop shop for people seeking protective orders.”

“Bexar County has a family justice center, Tarrant County has a family justice center – we can do it with existing resources and bringing stakeholders together,” Delia Garza said. “That’s how other counties have done it.”

In addition to a new task force website with easy access to a range of information, another website dedicated to protective orders will simplify the process, she said.

The site has a unique feature that will make it safer to use, Task Force Chair Kirsha Haverlah said.

“One of the things I thought was really important was for us to have an exit button. Because people can track where you’ve been,” she said.

Precinct 2 Commissioner Brigid Shea asked if this was to hide the user’s browser history.

“Or if someone is standing behind you, you can exit out really quickly,”Haverlah said.

On first arriving at the site, the user sees a “Security Alert” warning that “Internet usage can be monitored by your abuser” and recommends clearing browser history. The large red EXIT button is positioned in the lower right side of the page.

Gun forfeitures are another sign of success, she said. Three years after beginning “a robust and strict weapon forfeiture policy,” the county attorney has kept “over 1,000 weapons out of the hands of abusers and those who pose a threat to our community,” she said.

The task force, which includes many personnel outside of the courts and law enforcement, also announced an interesting training program.

“For the first time, we’re hosting special training for the beauty industry,” Haverlah said. “A lot of people use their beauticians, their barbers, as therapists. They may not know what to say if a customer is in an unhealthy relationship. We want to give them some tips and training.”

The class will include a panel with a domestic abuse survivor, victim service counselors and beauticians, Haverlah said.

The Travis County District Attorney’s Office provided services to over 3,000 family violence cases in the last year, according to the task force. Travis County Sheriff’s Office Victim Services assisted 1,600 domestic violence victims and Travis County Adult Probation supervised some 1,840 family violence cases, many evaluated as high risk.

For high-risk cases, the Travis County High Risk Team offers a coordinated response. In 2023, the team hosted more than 23 meetings with counselors, prosecutors, law enforcement, probation, pretrial services, shelter staff and victim advocacy groups to immediately address survivor safety concerns.

Photo by Larry D. Moore, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. This story has been changed since publication to correct quote attributions.

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