The Kirkland Police Department is looking for more volunteers for its Domestic Abuse Response Team (DART) program, which helps victims of domestic violence.

The volunteers provide support for victims of domestic violence by doing follow-up phone calls, assisting victims brought to the police station after a domestic violence incident and occasionally aiding officers on-scene.

“We’ve had that going for quite some time and we’re getting a little low on volunteers,” Kirkland Police Department spokesperson Lt. Mike Murray said. “It’s been really good for our department.”

During the past five years, the KPD handled 2,984 domestic violence case reports and made 368 adult arrests for domestic violence, along with 34 juvenile arrest, according to Murray, who said that the rate has remained about the same.

“It’s a pretty regular significant crime,” he said. “There isn’t a shift that goes by that there isn’t one or two domestic incidents a day. And sometimes it might range from folks yelling at each other to an actual assault.”

The KPD has two full-time detectives who handle domestic violence cases as part of the family violence unit, which also deals with child and adult abuse incidents, according to Murray.

“They’re plenty busy,” he said.

When it comes to responding to domestic violence calls, Murray said one of their biggest challenges is the unpredictable circumstances or behavior they encounter. In some instances, he said, officers will arrive at a residence where a couple has been fighting, determine the man was responsible, only to have the woman suddenly turn to defend him.

“Pretty soon you’re fighting with the female,” he said. “You never know when it’s going to happen. In a family or domestic type situation, emotions are a lot higher and more on edge. They can be more unpredictable about how people are going to react.”

Although there are some cases where there are random outbursts of physical violence, Murray said most of the time alcohol is involved and the incident is precipitated by suspicions of infidelity.

“It’s just the trust thing,” he said. “That tends to be where one side or the other thinks they’re with somebody else or not where they said they are. Everybody’s grabbing the other’s phone…that’s the more common we see, that instant anger type thing. What happens is that cycle of violence. Once the guy starts that, and if he grew up that way, that’s all he knows. Pour a few beers on top of that and there you go.”

The “he said, she said” incidents also make it difficult to determine who the primary aggressor is, Murray said. Attempting to get both sides of the story without further violence, when emotions are still high, can lead to further violence.

“It’s difficult for the officers, especially if only two show up,” he said. “They have to separate them to get each of their story, but they got to be able to stay safe and keep each other in proximity. If they go off, the officer has to be able to help out the other one.”

Another problem with domestic violence cases is that the victims will often not cooperate with the prosecutors for various reasons.

“Even though they may have been a victim of a pretty good assault, you get into the pattern where he says he’s sorry and he won’t do it again,” he said. “We know it’s all gonna happen again, so that’s a difficult situation. A lot of times the cases are dismissed.”

However, Murray added that if the prosecutors office and detectives are able to get enough evidence to press charges, they will move forward with the case, even if the victim won’t show up to court or give a witness statement.” The DART volunteers can help, Murray said, by speaking with the victims and possibly photographing any injuries that are more obvious several days after the incident.

But the hardest thing for the volunteers, Murray said, is to convince the victims to get out of the cycle of violence.

Any potential DARt volunteers must attend a 20-hour, free training, which will cover providing emotional support, the dynamics of domestic violence, safety planning, the criminal justice system and referring community support services. The training is scheduled to start in early October. Applications are due by Aug. 27.

Volunteers are needed for weekday and weekend evenings and must commit to one shift plus one meeting per month, for a minimum of one year. To be considered, volunteers must pass an application, interview, background check and screening, including a C.V.S.A (similar to a polygraph).

For more information, or to begin the volunteer registration and screening process, please contact Patrick Tefft, Volunteer Services Coordinator at 425-587-3012 or ptefft@kirklandwa.gov.