OREM, Utah — Lt. Governor Deidre Henderson reflected on a recent family reunion at Bear Lake.
"This is the first family reunion we had without my cousin, Mandy Mayne," she said. "Who was murdered last August by her ex-husband. Who waited for her in the dark, early morning hours of August 17 and ambushed her while she was at the bus stop."
Mayne was waiting to go to work when police said she was shot multiple times. Her ex-husband then killed himself.
"It was pretty clear that there were warning signs," Lt. Gov. Henderson said at a news conference on Wednesday. "There were warning signs that week."
As her family reeled from the tragedy, Lt. Gov. Henderson said it showed problems with the system meant to protect abuse victims. Law enforcement agencies were operating in silos. Her family's personal pain sparked a major change in the law to help other victims of domestic violence.
Effective July 1, all police agencies in Utah will be required to conduct what are known as "lethality assessments." Those are a series of questions that can help determine if someone is at risk of being murdered. If someone answers "yes" to a question, they're connected to victim services.
"When you’re in that situation, a lot of it seems normal, right? So someone walking you through those questions, it can help you realize, this isn’t normal. This is abuse," said Ashley Taylor, the director of The Refuge Utah, a victim services center in Orem.
It is something domestic violence victim advocates have been trying to get adopted statewide for years.
"I am so grateful for this change that is coming to our state. Because it will save lives," said Jen Campbell, who leads the Utah Domestic Violence Coalition.
At Wednesday's event, Lt. Gov. Henderson thanked victim advocates for their years of work. Attached to the bill requiring lethality assessments is also millions of dollars in funding for victim services across Utah.
Until now, about half of Utah police agencies conducted lethality assessments when responding to a family disturbance or a domestic violence call. They also didn't communicate with each other very well. Under the new program, Utah's Department of Public Safety created a uniform online questionnaire for an offer to fill out. The information is uploaded to the agency, which cross-checks it with other police departments' criminal histories and databases. That can help to identify if someone involved, for example, has been arrested in another city for assault or has recently applied to purchase a gun.
The entire process takes about a half-hour, said DPS Sgt. Jen Faumuina, who walked FOX 13 News through the lethality assessment protocol. The information can also help officers who are being provided with contacts with local domestic violence shelters.
"No one enjoys going to a domestic violence call just cause it’s so stressful and it’s also so dynamic and that we don’t necessarily know what’s going to happen," Sgt. Faumuina said. "Dealing with the victim survivors we’re also trying take into consideration that it is a very traumatic situation they’re going through and also being empathetic in that way, but also connect them to resources that are available to them."
Police will be mandated to conduct lethality assessments. DPS Commissioner Jess Anderson said so far, he has heard no complaints.
"There’s agencies that, mostly out in rural areas, just don’t have the ability or haven’t had the ability to put much emphasis or support to it have completely embraced it," he told FOX 13 News. "We have our large agencies who most have some sort of lethality assessment. Going forward? They have embraced it as well, knowing that it's causing a few adjustments. That's OK. We're working through those adjustments."
DPS has already been piloting it with a handful of agencies, but what they have found is stunning. Out of 206 lethality assessments submitted to the agency since March, 128 cases came back with a risk that signaled someone could be in danger.
"I'm shocked by that," Lt. Gov. Henderson told FOX 13 News. "But I'm really gratified to hear that this is working. Also, they’ve been able to identify offenders through this process already that they would have missed."
- Utah Domestic Violence Coalition:
- Hotline: 1-800-897-LINK (5465)
- Online help: udvc.org
- National Domestic Violence Hotline
- 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)
- Online live chat: thehotline.org
- If you or someone else is in immediate danger, or in an emergency, call 9-1-1 immediately.
