Team formed to combat intimate partner violence in Allegheny County

A team of Allegheny County leaders from all levels of the justice system, law enforcement and social services met for the first time Monday as a group dedicated to detangling the messy and often fragmented system set up to help victims of intimate partner violence.

County officials said that in 2018, 16% of all criminal cases filed in Pittsburgh Municipal Court involved intimate partner violence. Instances of intimate partner violence and domestic violence rose during the pandemic as people spent more time at home, and the county has received about 80 emergency calls a day for such incidents.

“It’s been a Pandora’s box that’s been opened,” Nicole Molinaro, president of the Women’s Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh, said of violence amid the pandemic. “Rates were awful prior to covid, and they’ve only gotten worse. Unfortunately, we don’t see a decrease happening.”

The newly created Intimate Partner Violence Reform Leadership Team is co-chaired by Common Pleas President Judge Kim Berkeley Clark and Erin Dalton, director of the county Department of Human Services, and includes representatives from the public defender’s office, the district attorney’s office, the county chiefs of police association, Pittsburgh police and multiple shelters and nonprofits. Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey are honorary co-chairs.

“A lot of things come down to an arrest is made and then we’re talking about probation or we’re talking about possible incarceration,” Chief Trial Deputy District Attorney William Petulla. “What we’re talking about here is all of the groups coming together and trying to come up with solutions rather than just falling into the same trappings, because the same trappings, over a long period of time, haven’t helped us out.”

Michelle Gibb, executive director of the Alle-Kiski Hope Center, said the reform leadership team makes connections among programs where there otherwise were not. The cornerstone of it all, she said, is communication and coordination.

“This is about, ‘how do we work better together,’” Gibb said. “When the systems are disjointed, they’re not accessible for victims.”

The IPV reform team is the result of an assessment by the Urban Institute, which looked at responses to intimate partner violence in Allegheny County and looked for ways to improve the response.

“It’s no secret that our community does the best when we work together, and tackling the issue of and improving response to intimate partner violence is no exception,” Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said.

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey added: “The more we interrupt violence and stop violence, the more we make for a better community, a better city, a better region … It works when we come together in order to end it.”

If you or someone you know is a victim of intimate partner violence, help is available. Access the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence website for a list of local programs or call the national help line at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).