Office of the Attorney General
Attorney General's Office Partners with Warren County Officials to Start Domestic Violence Fatality Review Team

Attorney General Jack Conway and his Office of Victim's Advocacy announced today the creation of the Warren County Domestic Violence Fatality Review Team. The team will consist of several local law enforcement officials and advocates who will meet periodically to evaluate a pre-selected domestic violence fatality that occurred in Warren County.

The creation of this team is the joint effort of Attorney General Conway's Office of Victim's Advocacy and several Warren County officials working with the Warren County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council. The team will serve several purposes. First, it will analyze information regarding local fatalities to identify trends, patterns, and risk factors; second, it will evaluate the effectiveness of local prevention and intervention strategies; and third, it will make recommendations for changes in laws, regulations, policies, budgets, and treatment standards.

"This team will work to enhance our agencies' abilities to investigate, prosecute, and prevent domestic violence deaths in our community." Said Warren County Commonwealth's Attorney Chris Cohron. "We appreciate Attorney General Conway's efforts to assist us in creating this team."

In August of this year, Attorney General Conway held a Domestic Violence Fatality Review Summit to gather ideas and information about expanding Domestic Violence Fatality Review (DVFR) teams. Participants included judges, the Justice Cabinet, the Department for Community Based Services, representatives from law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, the medical examiner, and victim's advocates. The participants in the Summit identified long term and short term goals including creating new local DVFR teams, creating model policy and procedures for teams, exploring the possibility of creating a statewide DVFR team, and enhancing data collection and reporting of domestic violence related deaths. Warren County is the first local team to be created out of this effort and will join Fayette and Jefferson counties as jurisdictions with teams.

"The ultimate goal is to prevent domestic violence related deaths. Through the efforts of my Office of Victim's Advocacy in partnership with the Warren County officials, we have taken a major step towards achieving that goal." Said Attorney General Conway.

Members of the Warren County team will include Commonwealth's Attorney Chris Cohron, County Attorney Amy Milliken, Coroner Kevin Kirby, Bowling Green Police Chief Doug Hawkins, Sheriff Jerry "Peanut" Gaines, and other members appointed by the Warren County Domestic Violence Council. Attorney General Conway's Office of Victim's Advocacy will provide staff resources to the team.