Prevention of Domestic Violence, Office for the

Agency Web Site: http://www.opdv.ny.gov/

Mission

The Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence (OPDV) works to improve the State's response to, and prevention of, domestic violence by providing support for local programs; offering policy advice and proposals at the state and local level; providing training and public education; and administering awareness activities.

Organization and Staffing

OPDV, led by an Executive Director, has four bureaus, including: Bureau of Law and Public Safety; Bureau of Finance and Operations; Bureau of External Affairs and Bureau of Family and Victim Resources. The Domestic Violence Fatality Review Team includes 20 members representing primarily state and local public safety agencies. The OPDV Advisory Council has 27 members including representatives from 11 state agencies, the Governor's Office, the Legislature and local nonprofit providers.

Budget Highlights

The FY 2021 Executive Budget recommends $5.7 million for the Office and a workforce of 28 FTEs. In FY 2020, the function of the Office of Campus Safety and one FTE with associated funding was transferred to OPDV.

Program Highlights

Governor’s Domestic Violence Task Force

In the Spring of 2019, the Governor convened a Task Force comprised of leadership from several state and local agencies as well as community-based domestic violence service providers to reimagine the way in which New York State provides programming and funding for services to victims of domestic violence. The Task Force focused on several policy areas including service provision, funding, housing, reporting and data collection, and enhancing state and local provider relationships. Several recommendations were created by each subcommittee and these recommendations, which have a common goal of being survivor-centered and of creating less-lethal offenders, will fuel the work of the agency and its partners for years to come.

Office of Campus Safety

The Office of Campus Safety (OCS) is responsible to work with the Department of Education to audit the compliance of New York’s colleges and universities. Since its inception, OCS has monitored and assisted the State in the oversight of the schools’ written rules and policies, as well as its collection of aggregate data from the colleges and universities, to ensure that the provision and posting of information and statistics regarding sexual assaults at colleges and universities complies with the law. In FY 2020, the function of OCS was transferred to OPDV to streamline the shared efforts and resources of both entities to combat sexual assault and to bolster the State’s efforts to hold college campuses across the State accountable to survivors.

Risk Reduction Enhanced Response Pilot Programs

The Risk Reduction Enhanced Response Pilot Program seeks to prevent intimate partner related homicides. The program utilizes a team approach that includes licensed domestic violence programs, district attorney’s offices, local law enforcement agencies and probation. A validated risk assessment tool, selected by the team, is used to identify and respond to domestic violence cases that are at the highest risk of serious injury or death.

NYS Domestic and Sexual Violence Hotline

The NYS Domestic and Sexual Violence Hotline provides trained counselors who respond to a variety of service needs including crisis intervention, supportive counseling, and information and referral services. Callers to the Hotline include victims of domestic and sexual violence, concerned others (e.g., family members, friends and co-workers), and professionals (e.g., professionals from human services, health care and criminal justice). In January 2019, the Hotline began taking calls from incarcerated individuals across the State who have been affected by sexual violence-the culmination of a partnership between OPDV, the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, the New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault and six local rape crisis programs serving as PREA Centers.

Fatality Review

The Domestic Violence Fatality Review Team is in its sixth year and has conducted 23 reviews. These intensive reviews are used to identify patterns and warning signs as well as improving the response systems that interact with victims. The purpose of this work is not to point fingers or lay blame, but to make recommendations that may help prevent such tragedies in the future.

Note: Most recent estimates as of 01/29/2020