West Virginia's Domestic Violence Registry became operational statewide October 13 when the last two counties - Kanawha and Greenbrier - went online. 

An innovative collaboration between the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, the West Virginia State Police, the FBI, and more than two dozen other state, federal, and private entities is responsible for the creation of West Virginia's Domestic Violence Registry and Statewide Database. 

Chief Justice Brent D. Benjamin has said, "This type of collaboration is a hallmark of our Twenty-First Century Court system."

Supreme Court Administrative Director Steve Canterbury said, "Domestic Violence is everybody's problem, a societal blight. Now we have one more tool to minimize potentially tragic consequences."

The Registry is a tool used to communicate domestic violence protective orders to law enforcement. It enhances the enforcement of those protective orders by providing law enforcement officers the most up-to-date information on a court's actions. The information is available through the National Crime Information Center, or NCIC.

An advisory team helped develop the Registry. Its work, and the technology necessary to make the Registry a reality, was paid for largely with a Grant to Encourage Arrest and Enforcement of Protective Orders from the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice.

In October the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia received two awards for its work on domestic violence issues. 
The U.S. Department of Justice presented an Award for Public Service to the Court "For invaluable service and assistance to victims and witnesses of crime; and for representing the criminal justice system in a just and caring way, while maintaining the highest standards of American Law Enforcement." 

U.S. Attorney Charles Miller presented the award to Supreme Court Justice Robin Jean Davis and Administrative Office staff a luncheon on October 1 at the University of Charleston.

On October 13, the West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence presented a "Purple Ribbon Award" to the Court's Administrative Office. 

The award said the Coalition "Commends your visionary leadership in helping to end violence against women; celebrates your tireless efforts to develop statewide partnerships; recognizes your steady influence in raising awareness; and honors your passionate commitment to peace, non-violence and social change." 

"The Domestic Violence Registry is a tool that can assist law enforcement to save lives," said Angela D. Saunders, Director of Court Services. "It is a team approach to the statewide problem of domestic violence. The creation and implementation of this project required collaboration with all three branches (judicial, executive and legislative) of government. It also requires a successful partnership between the courts and law enforcement. When you get the privilege of watching an entire state come together to address domestic violence, it is the victims that win. This project is more than work, it is a mission. The collaboration has, can, and will protect victims of domestic violence, both in this state and throughout the nation."

The registry allows a law enforcement officer to know whether a current protective order is in effect as that officer responds to a call, enhancing the safety of both the officer and the potential victim. The database that supports the registry has a scanned copy of the actual protective order, so there can be no confusion about what it actually says, who issued it, and whether it is still in effect.

Magistrate court staff are scanning domestic violence protective orders into the database within minutes of when they are issued by a court. Family court staff also are being trained to scan orders issued by family court judges. Until all are trained, family courts are submitting their data on the action from that court on protective orders via their magistrate courts. 

The computer system pulls those new orders, formats them, and puts them into the state registry database. State Police officers all over West Virginia have access to the database, allowing them to confirm National Crime Information Center (NCIC) hits. Law enforcement officers nationwide have access to the NCIC. When an officer in the field runs a name through the NCIC and there is a "hit" for a protective order, the officer is required to confirm the data from the original source within ten minutes. 

Because West Virginia courthouses are not open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, it was not previously possible to confirm a "hit" for a protective order. Now officers in West Virginia State Police detachments are able to access the scanned image of the actual protective order and confirm its existence and effective date. Because detachments are open around the clock, they can do that around the clock.

All court records are validated every thirty days to make sure information in the database is current.

The Legislature in 2001 directed the West Virginia State Police to create an automated, statewide Registry of domestic violence protective orders. Work was hindered by a lack of funding and dedicated staff, and problems developing technology. Work on the domestic violence Registry took on a new life after Steve Canterbury became the Supreme Court Administrative Director in 2005, leading to legislation enabling the Supreme Court Administrative Office to house the database. That legislation was effective June 6, 2008. 

The Court Services Division and its Domestic Violence Planning and Evaluation Committee, including a representative from the State Police, redirected funding to address issues identified from a status assessment Ms. Saunders, the project director, completed in 2005. A number of issues were identified. The Domestic Violence Committee and court staff began searching for grant funding. In the meantime, under Mr. Canterbury's direction, the Court continued a massive restructuring of the West Virginia court system computers, beginning with the magistrate system, which is the main system that houses protective order data. 

In preparation to apply for the Grants to Encourage Arrest and Enforcement of Protective Orders grant, a three-member team from West Virginia attended the "Domestic Violence and Firearms: A National Summit for Community Safety" in Los Angeles in September 2006. That team, which included Director of Family Court Services Lisa Tackett, came back to West Virginia with a renewed vision of what the Domestic Violence Registry could become and a renewed interest in working with federal, state, and local agencies, and in getting funding to make it a reality.

The Court wrote the grant proposal, which included a memorandum of understanding signed by the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, the West Virginia State Police, the Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the West Virginia Regional Community Policing Institute, and the West Virginia Division of Criminal Justice Services. The Court staff then invited other partners to collaborate.

The $815,000 grant, which the Supreme Court received a year later, purchased the technology for the Registry and provided funding for training in its use, among other things. 

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