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Seattle's domestic batterers to lose guns
By HECTOR CASTRO
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Seattle police hope to make life safer for victims of domestic violence and the patrol officers sent to their homes with a new policy, announced yesterday, that is meant to remove guns from the hands of abusers.
Since 1997, nearly 300 Washington state residents have died in domestic violence homicides, and more than half of them were killed with a firearm, according to the state's Domestic Violence Fatality Review.
Laws passed in 1993 required law enforcement agencies to remove firearms from abusers. But concerns about property rights, how to safely keep the weapons and lack of money for enforcement made those laws all but toothless.
"Having a law in and of itself is not enough," said Kelly Starr, coordinator of the fatality review. "You need things in place for effective implementation."
Two years ago, the King County Sheriff's Office began a program to address the problem. Deputies began asking victims whether firearms were present, district court judges began issuing orders requiring some defendants in domestic violence cases to surrender their firearms and the sheriff's office established a place and a system to take the guns, returning them when ordered by the courts.
Their work interested other agencies and now, Seattle, Issaquah and Bellevue police have programs modeled after King County's.
"This is not some sort of citizen-disarmament program. The whole bent of this is to disarm batterers," said Mark Hanna, manager of King County's firearm forfeiture program.
Since May 2003, the county has taken in 662 handguns, rifles and shotguns. More than 100 of those weapons were returned to their owners after a judge found there was no lawful reason to keep them. Nineteen guns were destroyed by court order; the rest remain in the custody of the Sheriff's Office.
Seattle police have no way of knowing how many guns they will take in, said Capt. Ron Mochizuki.
"This is new to us," he said.
Seattle's policy took effect in late May, and most patrol officers have been trained in the new protocols on taking custody of firearms.
The guns will come to police in one of two ways, officials said.
Officers can take them at the scene of a domestic violence call if they have permission, a municipal court judge can order a defendant to surrender the firearms. City Attorney Tom Carr said two orders of surrender have been issued so far, both in criminal cases. In one instance, he said, the man has not yet complied with the order. In the other case, the man has signed an affidavit assuring the court he does not have a firearm.
At a news conference yesterday, Seattle police Chief Gil Kerlikowske said the point is to get the guns from people who should not have them.
"We are not going to take our eye off the ball, which is the gun," he said. "We want to get those guns out of these houses."
Firearms in homes where domestic violence occurs is a risk factor, Starr said, and makes a victim vulnerable to serious injury or death.
The next-most-frequent weapon of choice in domestic violence slayings is a knife. Knives account for about 16 percent of the deaths, according to the fatality review.
Though the focus is on misdemeanor domestic violence, such incidents can lead to increasingly violent outcomes.
Carr said he could recall five misdemeanor domestic violence cases he prosecuted where the defendant went on to kill.
"Domestic violence is a scourge on our society," he said.
And it remains one of the most frequent calls to which police respond.
On average, anywhere from 13,500 to 15,000 reports of domestic violence are made to Seattle's 911 call center annually. Last year, 7,140 cases of domestic violence were referred to the department DV Unit for investigation, police spokeswoman Debra Brown said.
If the program is meant to increase safety, King County has begun to see evidence it may do just that.
As of late last year, deputies have had second run-ins with someone who had surrendered a firearm in their program 13 times. In 11 of those instances, that second call was for another domestic violence incident -- rather than something potentially much worse.
That, Hanna said, is proof the program is working as intended, "to disarm batterers and make it safer for victims and law enforcement."
P-I reporter Hector Castro can be reached at 206-903-5396 or [email protected]
By HECTOR CASTRO
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Seattle police hope to make life safer for victims of domestic violence and the patrol officers sent to their homes with a new policy, announced yesterday, that is meant to remove guns from the hands of abusers.
Since 1997, nearly 300 Washington state residents have died in domestic violence homicides, and more than half of them were killed with a firearm, according to the state's Domestic Violence Fatality Review.
Laws passed in 1993 required law enforcement agencies to remove firearms from abusers. But concerns about property rights, how to safely keep the weapons and lack of money for enforcement made those laws all but toothless.
"Having a law in and of itself is not enough," said Kelly Starr, coordinator of the fatality review. "You need things in place for effective implementation."
Two years ago, the King County Sheriff's Office began a program to address the problem. Deputies began asking victims whether firearms were present, district court judges began issuing orders requiring some defendants in domestic violence cases to surrender their firearms and the sheriff's office established a place and a system to take the guns, returning them when ordered by the courts.
Their work interested other agencies and now, Seattle, Issaquah and Bellevue police have programs modeled after King County's.
"This is not some sort of citizen-disarmament program. The whole bent of this is to disarm batterers," said Mark Hanna, manager of King County's firearm forfeiture program.
Since May 2003, the county has taken in 662 handguns, rifles and shotguns. More than 100 of those weapons were returned to their owners after a judge found there was no lawful reason to keep them. Nineteen guns were destroyed by court order; the rest remain in the custody of the Sheriff's Office.
Seattle police have no way of knowing how many guns they will take in, said Capt. Ron Mochizuki.
"This is new to us," he said.
Seattle's policy took effect in late May, and most patrol officers have been trained in the new protocols on taking custody of firearms.
The guns will come to police in one of two ways, officials said.
Officers can take them at the scene of a domestic violence call if they have permission, a municipal court judge can order a defendant to surrender the firearms. City Attorney Tom Carr said two orders of surrender have been issued so far, both in criminal cases. In one instance, he said, the man has not yet complied with the order. In the other case, the man has signed an affidavit assuring the court he does not have a firearm.
At a news conference yesterday, Seattle police Chief Gil Kerlikowske said the point is to get the guns from people who should not have them.
"We are not going to take our eye off the ball, which is the gun," he said. "We want to get those guns out of these houses."
Firearms in homes where domestic violence occurs is a risk factor, Starr said, and makes a victim vulnerable to serious injury or death.
The next-most-frequent weapon of choice in domestic violence slayings is a knife. Knives account for about 16 percent of the deaths, according to the fatality review.
Though the focus is on misdemeanor domestic violence, such incidents can lead to increasingly violent outcomes.
Carr said he could recall five misdemeanor domestic violence cases he prosecuted where the defendant went on to kill.
"Domestic violence is a scourge on our society," he said.
And it remains one of the most frequent calls to which police respond.
On average, anywhere from 13,500 to 15,000 reports of domestic violence are made to Seattle's 911 call center annually. Last year, 7,140 cases of domestic violence were referred to the department DV Unit for investigation, police spokeswoman Debra Brown said.
If the program is meant to increase safety, King County has begun to see evidence it may do just that.
As of late last year, deputies have had second run-ins with someone who had surrendered a firearm in their program 13 times. In 11 of those instances, that second call was for another domestic violence incident -- rather than something potentially much worse.
That, Hanna said, is proof the program is working as intended, "to disarm batterers and make it safer for victims and law enforcement."
P-I reporter Hector Castro can be reached at 206-903-5396 or [email protected]
