Police want to use a $900,000 Department of Justice grant to better investigate domestic violence strangulations.
The money, spread out over three years, will pay for consultants and analysis. Police say they need a better system to track strangulation incidents, so prosecutors can pull together stronger cases. Larry Esquivel and city budget director Jennifer Maguire proposing the plan” target=“_blank”>A memo from acting Police Chief Larry Esquivel and city budget director Jennifer Maguire proposing the plan goes before the City Council Tuesday.
“The San Jose Police Department has not uniformly trained its officers to conduct domestic violence strangulation investigations, collect evidence of strangulation, or document the incident,” the memo reads. “Grant funds will be utilized to implement a tracking system, train first responders, investigators, prosecutors, and the judiciary on investigation and prosecution for domestic violence strangulation incidents, and develop expertise for testimony and evidence collection.”
Since obtaining and enforcing a restraining order is a complicated ordeal, some of the grant money will be set aside to help victims through the process. Police will also create a registry to track protective orders in real-time.
More from the San Jose City Council agenda for October 22, 2013:
• The city wants to apply for a $1.1 million state grant to build a one-mile paved path linking the Los Gatos Creek Trail by pedestrian bridge. Cash would come from a $70 million state fund set aside for “greening” up urban areas.
• A $400,000 law enforcement grant will pay for continued work to stop online child pornography, a crime that’s grown more sophisticated as technology has made it easier to reproduce and distribute photographs and videos. The grant, which the city has received annually for the past decade, will pay for continued participation in the national Internet Crimes Against Children program.
• Launchpad Development, the company behind the up-and-coming Rocketship charter school chain, wants a public hearing for the council to consider its zoning exemption request to build a school in the neighborhood around the Tamien Caltrain station. Some neighbors are none too happy about the idea. The local school district fought the school in court when it went to the county for the same zoning exemption.
• An annual review of the city’s General Plan—that’s the municipal blueprint for future growth—is due. The report tracks how well the city is meeting the goals laid out in the planning document.
WHAT: City Council meets
WHEN: 1:30pm Tuesday
WHERE: City Hall, 200 E. Santa Clara St., San Jose
INFO: City Clerk, 408.535.1260
