Salem Police Department Domestic Violence Response Team
Cause Area
- Advocacy & Human Rights
- Community
- Crisis Support
- Women
Location
555 Liberty St SE Room #130Salem, OR 97302 United StatesOrganization Information
Mission Statement
The goal of DVRT is to increase victim safety and raise offender accountability through the work of our victim advocates and officers on the team. The ultimate goal is to reduce repeat domestic abuse incidents within the same household. (Please note that you do not necessarily have to file a police report in order to speak to a victim advocate. Victim advocates working at Salem Police are not law enforcement officers).
Description
The Salem Police Department has a very active Domestic Violence Response Team (DVRT) that is designed to provide 24-hour on-scene crisis intervention response to victims of domestic/sexual violence and stalking in Salem. DVRT is the first program of its kind implemented in the State of Oregon to immediately serve domestic violence victims on-scene.
The victim advocate program began in 1997 with the hiring of one victim advocate. Since then, the team has grown to consist of one paid victim advocate, and 20+ highly trained volunteer advocates from the community. The team also consists of 15+ Domestic Violence Officers. The DV Officers are given highly specialized training pertaining to domestic violence investigations and the dynamics of domestic abuse.