El Paso County accepts grant for Domestic Violence Unit

El Paso County Commissioners Court accepted a $150,000 grant on Monday for the District Attorney’s Office Domestic Violence Unit.

In order to accept the grant, the County had to provide a $118,024 match, which Commissioners Court approved.

In addition to accepting the grant, Commissioners Court also had a resolution to honor October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

In 2013, the unit oversaw 5,843 family-related cases. In 2016, they handled 358 less cases.

“The grant is not a new grant, we’ve had it for quite some time and it has been doing really great work. Part of what I said to the Commissioners Court is that we’ve seen the number of cases coming through the D.A.’s office decrease over the years that we’ve had the grant,” county judge Ruben Vogt said. “I think that the good work that they’re doing is really being helpful in getting the services that are needed by the victims in our community.”

Patricia Baca, the supervisor of the Domestic Violence Unit, said this grant is essential for her work.

“This money allows us to have a dedicated unit to focus only on domestic violence, have attorneys assigned to it, have investigators assigned to it, and it also requires that we have specialized attention for these cases,” Baca said. “As we all know, domestic violence continues to be a big problem. Every victim — we want to make sure every victim has resources available for them.”

The funds go to salaries and equipment that is used by the unit.

“Without the money, I don’t know if we would be able to that work that we do and be able to continue to see the numbers go down, as far as cases being referred to our office,” Baca said.

Baca said that work still needs to be done.

“I think that a lot of us want to believe that it doesn’t happen. That we don’t know anybody, but I’m pretty sure if we dig deep into our relationships, we know someone whose been a victim of domestic violence,” Baca said. “Unfortunately, it exists in our community. It hasn’t gone away. I hope one day it will, but until then, we will continue our efforts.”

Stephanie Karr, the executive director for the Center against Sexual and Family Violence, said she’s thankful to have the County’s support.

“Domestic violence is a community problem, and so we constantly look for partners who can support our work, and engage with others to prevent family violence,” Karr said.