This article discusses domestic violence. If you or someone you know has been assaulted, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 for free, 24/7 support.
MADISON, Wis. — According to the Madison Police Department, domestic violence homicides have been on the rise over the past few years in the city of Madison.
Captain Stephanie Drescher works for MPD and is creating a specialized unit that can respond to domestic violence related calls.
She said in 2023, four out of 10 homicides in Madison were the result of domestic violence.
“If I am telling you that almost half of our homicides in the City of Madison are DV related, you would hope that we would be like, this is something we need to focus on, right?” said Drescher.
In April 2024, Drescher was recognized nationally as a rising police leader for her research on domestic violence homicides.
“It went from one in 2021 to almost half of the homicides in 2022 being domestic violence related,” said Drescher. “I started focusing on the key things that linked all of the things together.”
Drescher is in the process of forming a specialized unit that can respond to domestic violence calls.
She said the support from her department and nonprofits in the community is there, but she still needs to find a way to fund the unit.
“We don’t have funding, [DAIS] is losing all of their funding. This takes staff time, it takes authorized strength for us if we can’t reorganize or we need a grant,” said Drescher.
Shannon Barry is the executive director of Domestic Abuse Intervention Services or DAIS. She said domestic violence is a complex issue.
“People only think that it is physical or sexual abuse, so often domestic violence can also include emotional, phycological, physical, financial and spiritual abuse,” said Barry.
Barry said every domestic violence situation is unique and sometimes law enforcement is not the best response.
“Victims know that their batterers are going to come back, and things might be escalated by having law enforcement involved,” said Barry. “So, the victim has to put on a good show when law enforcement is there by saying it wasn’t that bad or I don’t really want you here.”
Barry said she has been speaking with Drescher about developing a domestic violence unit that would work directly with her team at DAIS.
She said she thinks adding a specialized unit would be a great addition to the tools that already exist.
“If law enforcement is there and says, ‘Do you want a DAIS advocate?’ and the victim says yes and we confirm that the victim actually wants us there,” said Barry. “For us to have that warm handoff could be incredibly effective for people.”
Barry said less than 25% of domestic violence cases are reported to law enforcement and a large majority of the victims that DAIS interacts with never contacted law enforcement at all.
Drescher said her department had some issues obtaining a grant for the unit recently, but she has not given up on changing the way MPD responds to domestic violence calls.
“The grant fell through not that long ago, but it is not like it is a lost cause and will never happen. It is more of internally what we can do to restructure,” said Drescher.