As Vancouver prepares to make cuts to address a $43 million budget deficit, one cut officials are considering is to the area’s domestic violence prosecution center. The unit leader says the cuts could be a hit to public safety.
The center, made up of four attorneys from the Vancouver City Attorney’s Office and six attorneys from the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, is located at 1101 Broadway in downtown Vancouver.
City attorney Jonathan Young said city officials asked his office to make $500,000 in cuts to help balance the budget. To do so, Young said he plans to reassign one city attorney who’s been working on domestic violence cases to work in City Hall, instead.
While the city attorney’s office is responsible for prosecuting misdemeanor cases that occur in Vancouver, Clark County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Kristen Arnaud said all of the attorneys in the joint center work a combination of city and county cases.
“While all felony cases fall under the power of the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office to prosecute, the majority of our felony cases arise from investigations completed by the Vancouver Police Department,” Arnaud said in an emailed statement. “The loss of a felony domestic violence prosecutor will have impacts across both city and county cases.”
Arnaud said she’s concerned about the ramifications of the cuts to what “continues to be a pervasive issue within our community.”
“I understand that budget decisions are always difficult, and there are cuts that need to be made in order to balance the city’s budget, however … the work of the Domestic Violence Prosecution Center is an essential part of the public safety equation in our community, and any cuts to the (center) will inevitably affect our ability to do the necessary work of investigating, reviewing and prosecuting these cases,” she said.
Last year, the center reviewed 1,400 felony cases and 1,900 misdemeanor cases referred by law enforcement, Arnaud said. This year, the center is on track to file a record number of cases, she said, and the attorneys’ caseloads are almost at a breaking point.
“In the past few years there have been several notable and tragic cases involving serious assaults and murders of intimate partners, family members and children in our community,” Arnaud said. “These cases affect not only the direct victims, but the entire community of Clark County and the city of Vancouver.”
The city also proposes eliminating the lease for the unit’s Broadway office. Arnaud said the county office is looking at options for continuing to fund the building lease or for finding different office space in downtown Vancouver.
“The city attorney’s office will continue to assign three assistant city prosecutors and support staff to the (Domestic Violence Prosecution Center) and remains fully committed to supporting the (center) with available resources,” Young said in a statement. “The city attorney’s office has initiated discussions with the Vancouver Police Department and Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office around future space needs of the (Domestic Violence Prosecution Center).”
As soon as county officials learned of the city’s proposed cut to the center, Arnaud said they began seeking other ways to keep that position. She said the prosecutor’s office submitted a grant application aimed at allowing it to hire an additional attorney to fill the city position proposed to be cut.
“Prosecution of cases of domestic violence is a very high priority to the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, and we are committed to doing everything in our power to continue providing this essential service to the citizens of Clark County,” Arnaud said.
“Further, our office remains committed to continuing the collaboration with our partners in the Vancouver Police Department and the city attorney’s office regardless of the city’s final budget decision and its impact on the positions and funding of the (Domestic Violence Prosecution Center). Our citizens and those being victimized by intimate partner violence deserve nothing less.”
