On this week’s 51%, domestic violence from two angles. First, we’ll hear about a message from a book about domestic violence - an adult message from a book written by a girl. Then a retired police officer discusses a protocol adopted in his New York county to help victims. Plus, hiring women mechanics to appeal to women.
Each year, hundreds of thousands of children in the U.S. are the victims of domestic abuse. Some die at the hands of the people who are supposed to protect them. That's what happened to Maxwell, he was two when he died after a history of neglect and abuse that was never adequately addressed. He left behind a family who will never forget him, and a sister who has worked to cope with his passing. Rachel Otwell brings us the story from Jacksonville, Illinois.
And now, you’ll hear about what is being done to stem domestic violence from the perspective of a retired police officer who is currently a county legislator. Just more than an hour-and-a-half north of New York City sits a county that has taken on a program to help identify domestic violence victims and offer them help. The county is Dutchess and the program is the Lethality Assessment Program, or LAP. The Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence created LAP in 2005 and jurisdictions across the U.S. have been adopting it, Dutchess County included. LAP provides an easy and effective method for law enforcement and victim service providers to identify victims of domestic violence who are at the highest potential for being seriously injured or killed by their intimate partners and immediately connect them to a domestic violence service provider. Retired police officer and Dutchess County Legislature Chairman Rob Rolison talks about how the program is helping, but starts where the problem escalated.
That was Rob Rolison, a county legislator and retired police officer, talking about his county’s use of the Lethality Assessment Program, or LAP, to identify domestic violence victims.
Car mechanics tend to be male, but one Paris-area garage is trying to change that by hiring women to appeal to women. Sarah Elzas met two female car mechanics at Only Girls.
And this was also produced by Sarah Elzas for Radio France International.
And that’s our show for this week. Thanks to Katie Britton for production assistance. Our executive producer is Dr. Alan Chartock. Our theme music is Glow in the Dark by Kevin Bartlett. This show is a national production of Northeast Public Radio. If you’d like to hear this show again, sign up for our podcast, or visit the 51% archives on our web site at wamc.org. This week’s show is #1335.
