NCJ Number
132700
Journal
Law and Order Volume: 39 Issue: 3 Dated: (March 1991) Pages: 72-75
Date Published
1991
Length
4 pages
Annotation
The Family Trouble Center -- opened on January 23, 1990, in Memphis, Tenn., as a cooperative venture of the police department and the community -- offers services and treatment for both victims and perpetrators of domestic violence.
Abstract
The Center offers not only anger management groups for batterers but also crisis and support counseling for victims, mediation through contract, referral services to other agencies for protective shelter, alcohol and drug counseling, and community outreach and education. To implement the program, professionals from Family Service and Wife Abuse train all police officers in the city to recognize important signs in domestic violence situations and to use anger-management techniques in on-the-spot counseling. On every domestic violence call, police leave a Family Trouble Center warning and referral sheet which urges the conflicting parties to get help. Police calls serious enough to be written up by police are referred to the Center which follows up with a phone call and an invitation to the parties to come for counseling. Services are free and confidential. Although the leaflets distributed by police have not been noticeably effective in bringing clients to the Center, referrals from the justice system are filling anger-management sessions.