Metro-east police honored for work with domestic violence victims

Two officers and a metro-east police department were recognized Thursday for their efforts in working with domestic violence victims.

St. Clair County Sheriff's Investigator Greg Bux, Belleville Police Det. Tim Crimm and the Fairview Heights Police Department were recognized at Tracy Fogarty Center, which is the St. Clair County State's Attorney Domestic Violence Unit, located in Belleville.

"We decided it would be nice to recognize officers who have been really efficient at following up with victims and bringing us paperwork and really standing up for domestic violence victims," said Lisa Chilton, director of legal advocacy with the Violence Prevention Center of Southwestern Illinois. Chilton works out of the Tracy Fogarty Center.

The center is operated with federal grant funds and only handles domestic violence cases. Last year, St. Clair County State's Attorney Brendan Kelly ramped up the prosecution of domestic violence cases where children were involved and worked with local police departments to encourage them to regularly videotape domestic violence victims at the scene and interview them immediately. With the help of a videotaped interview that shows the victim in distress and also may show damaged property, the state's attorney's office has been able to prosecute 117 percent more domestic violence cases than it did before adopting the victimless prosecution process for domestic violence cases.

"I'm really proud of us," said Laura Reppert, supervisor of the center. "We have the same amount of staff and we have been able to get more dispositions of cases. We're not trying to get convictions on all cases: We want to hold perpetrators responsible for their actions. Our caseload is much heavier than before but we are staying on top of it."

The center charges about 46 percent of the cases that come in, compared to about 25 percent of the cases charged before the victimless prosecution process was put into practice.

There was a 101 percent increase in the number of domestic violence cases being prosecuted in 2011 by the St. Clair County State's Attorney's Office Domestic Violence Unit compared to 2010, a 138 percent increase in Violation of Orders of Protection cases that defendants pled to as charged in 2011 compared to 2010 and a 276 percent increase in felony domestic battery cases that defendants pled to as charged in 2011 compared to 2010.

Plaques recognizing the officers and the police department will hang in the Tracy Fogarty Center on West Main Street. The center hopes to recognize two officers quarterly and one police agency annually for outstanding work with the center.

The officers and police department chosen for the recognition have gone above and beyond in their handling of domestic violence calls.

"Det. Crimm has a really good rapport with the victims and you can tell he cares about the victims and fighting domestic violence and it really shows," Reppert said.

"The Fairview Heights Police Department has been so great with working with us on following up on cases," Chilton said.

Reppert added: "They are very thorough in investigations and very prompt on follow up on investigations."

Fairview Heights Police Chief Nick Gailius accepted the recognition on behalf of the department.

"We're very honored to be recognized," he said. "We have been involved with domestic violence victim advocates for years and we really believe, and we have seen in our dealing with the community, the better effect we have when we partner with other agencies like the Domestic Violence Prevention Center."

The police department recently purchased video cameras for officers to carry with them on domestic violence calls so they can videotape interviews at the scene instead of having to bring victims back to the police department for interviews.

"We follow up to get them to meet with the domestic violence advocates and work with them to help them get what they need to be safe," Gailius said.