THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 13, 1994 TAG: 9410130505
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
A security company spokesman said Wednesday his firm will donate silent alarm systems to battered women who fear their abusers, if the victims meet certain criteria.
ADT Security Systems, the Police Department and several support groups for battered and abused women announced the program in a news conference at police headquarters. It is the first program of its kind in the area.
The system works like the silent alarms that banks activate during holdups. When a woman's abuser confronts her at home, the victim can call for help by either pressing an emergency button on a keypad installed in the house or squeezing a pendant she wears.
The system calls a monitoring center that alerts police.
``This offers a source of security for women who may be leaving shelters or safe havens and going back into the community, and they are fearful of what is going to happen now,'' said Georgiette Morgan-Thomas, a representative of Samaritan House, a women's shelter.
Virginia Beach is one of the first localities in the state and the 25th in the nation to receive the system - named AWARE, for Abused Women's Active Response Emergency.
The first such system was installed in Tampa, Fla., in 1992.
In Virginia, Chesterfield and Henrico counties received the system in January. ADT representative Terry Mahoney said that no one in Virginia has used the system yet but that AWARE has helped save the lives of 14 women nationally.
Mahoney said the system will be available to Virginia Beach women who are in ``imminent danger'' and have a protective court order against their abusers.
Candace Feathers, a Family Violence Services coordinator, said that in addition to ADT's requirements, a committee will evaluate potential recipients by looking at such issues as their level of danger, previous assaults and the persistence of the abuser.
``Obviously, we don't have a crystal ball,'' Feathers said. ``We may miss some women who need it, and may give it to some who really don't.''
But, Feathers said, the system is supposed to target women who have exhausted legal means for relief from a persistent abuser.
No one would say how many systems will be available to battered women or when the first systems will be in place.
According to information released at the news conference, 2,539 ``domestic offenses'' were reported to Virginia Beach police from July 1993 to June 1994.
During the first eight months of this year, police records show, domestic violence led to nine homicides. Only one of the victims may have qualified for the ADT security system, and the system would not have prevented her murder.
Marion Garetson was fatally shot April 1 by her estranged husband, Joe, who barged into her office at work. He then killed himself. Marion Garetson had sought court protection.
Because the AWARE system works only in or around a person's home, it wouldn't have prevented Marion Garetson's death.
However, Feathers said the home is where most assaults happen.
Of the nine domestic murders in Virginia Beach this year, four husbands killed their wives; two women killed their husbands or lovers; and three men murdered other men because of family disputes or disputes over women, according to police records.
Even so, Police Chief Charles R. Wall said he is convinced the AWARE system will ``curtail the number of domestic violence crimes that occur in our country each year.''
For more information about the AWARE system, call Sgt. Ray Greenwood at 427-4101.
KEYWORDS: SILENT ALARM by CNB