DATE: Wednesday, June 11, 1997              TAG: 9706110436

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: JEFFREY S. HAMPTON, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY                    LENGTH:   84 lines

ELIZABETH CITY REJECTS DOMESTIC ABUSE ADVISER FOR SECOND TIME IN WEEK CITY COUNCIL VOTES TO DENY POLICE CHIEF'S REQUEST FOR THE NEW POSITION.

For the second time in a week, the City Council has denied the police chief's request for a new position designed to help curb domestic violence.

At a budget work session Monday, Police Chief Michael Lloyd presented statistics and opinions to bolster his request for a domestic violence intervention coordinator.

In the end, he garnered the support of only one member of council, Anita Hummer. Myrtle Rivers, the only other woman present on the eight-member council, voted with the majority. Dorothy Stallings was absent.

``I feel that to take that person out is an extreme injustice to a lot of women and children,'' Hummer said.

The council had voted against the position last Thursday. At Hummer's request, the board rescinded that vote, then, after listening to Lloyd's presentation, voted against the proposal a second time.

The action angered a handful of women in attendance, including Pat Youngblood, director of Albemarle Hopeline, a home for battered women in Elizabeth City.

Councilman Zack Robertson led the opposition to Lloyd's proposal.

``We've lived in Elizabeth City for 50 years and this position was not necessary before,'' Robertson said.

Two other options were to cross-train a current police officer or to fill the next vacancy in the police department with a domestic violence coordinator.

Councilman A.C. Robinson Jr. suggested the position come through Albemarle Hopeline.

``What he was asking for we wish we could do, but we absolutely can't,'' Youngblood said Tuesday morning. ``We don't have the staff.''

She said Albemarle Hopeline only sees a small portion of the battered women. Many report the assault to police. Most are too afraid to do anything, she said.

As a consolation, the council agreed to a $7,000 request from Albemarle Hopeline. The council had not previously planned to fund the request.

The domestic violence intervention coordinator would have required $34,000 a year, and the proposed police budget had already expanded in several ways:

$30,000 for payments on a new computer system.

$21,000 for the city's share of a COPS grant which adds five new officers. None of them can be used as a domestic violence coordinator.

$15,000 for two police dogs.

$11,000 for a police community center on Road Street.

$10,000 for the 911 communications center.

$7,000 to match a traffic safety grant.

``What I'm trying to say is, I don't feel like this is the way for our police department to go,'' Robertson said. ``I feel we need to leave this to people who are trained to do it, such as Albemarle Hopeline.''

Lloyd countered that Hopeline's mission and the coordinator's job are like ``comparing apples to oranges.''

Lloyd said the coordinator would not be a sworn police officer but would act as an advocate and adviser to the victims of domestic abuse who are almost always women battered by husbands or boyfriends.

The coordinator would help couples resolve problems or help the woman escape the abuse. Albemarle Hopeline would be a resource the coordinator might suggest.

``Any time you have a method of intervention you end up saving money,'' Lloyd told the council.

In 50 percent of the homes where domestic murders occur, Lloyd said, police have visited seven times. Lloyd mentioned a domestic violence intervention program in Quincy, Mass., that eliminated domestic murders.

A formerly battered woman who did not want to reveal her name said a domestic violence coordinator might help in some circumstances, but she felt it might have made her first husband more dangerous.

``At that point in time I don't think it would've worked,'' the woman said. Yet she admitted she did not know what her resources for escape were. She was afraid to leave and still worries her former husband may find her. ``If I'd known where to get help, I would've been out of there sooner.''

``One person cannot be cure-all, but it can be a positive step with all the other things going on,'' Youngblood said Tuesday in support of the coordinator.

Statistics on the extent of spousal abuse in the area are hard to measure. Currently, domestic cases are lumped with assault cases.

``That's been a real hole,'' Youngblood said. ``I know that just from Elizabeth City there are two cases a week in district court. And that's just a little part.''

Albemarle Hopeline serves six counties.

The city's next budget-planning session is Thursday at 6 p.m. on the council chambers. A public hearing on the budget will be held June 16.

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