Members of the Utah Domestic Violence Coalition on Thursday will once again ask state lawmakers for more money to fund victims services and member programs — but this year the group’s executive director believes they have a better chance of getting it.
Two years ago, lawmakers allocated a one-time grant for law enforcement to implement a standardized, research-based method of determining a victim’s risk in an abusive situation and getting them help. Now, with only a year left of grant funding, the coalition has data to back up why they think they should receive ongoing funds, not just one-time money, the coalition’s executive director Jenn Oxborrow said
“I think the thing that’s really compelling now, with the implementation of the lethality assessment protocol, the data that we have about that, about how many people are at high risk, and how hard this on our law enforcement, how dangerous it is for them, and how costly, I think they’re starting to see that the returns on this are going to be huge,” Oxborrow told The Salt Lake Tribune after a Tuesday press conference at the state Capitol.