Police Officer - Domestic (intimate partner) Abuse policies (Fargo Police Department)

Hello,

I have passed your open records request along to the appropriate staff for processing. I am no longer the department's PIO, but I am more than happy to pass along your request. For future open records requests, please consider contacting Deputy Chief Todd Osmundson at tosmundson@fargond.gov<mailto:tosmundson@fargond.gov>, or PIO Jessica Schindeldecker at jschindeldecker@fargond.gov<mailto:jschindeldecker@fargond.gov> for a more timely response.

Respectfully,

Deputy Chief Joe Anderson
Criminal Investigations Division
Fargo Police Department
222 4th St. N.
Fargo, ND 58102
Ph: (701) 476-4174
FBI NA 250th Session
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SAFETY - COURTESY - EMPATHY - TRUST

Good afternoon Beryl Lipton. I am responding to your open record request. See at the end of my email, I have included the body of your email.

I have attached to this email: 1. The Fargo Police Department's Policy involving Domestic Violence.
2. I had one of my staff look up the stats for Domestic Violence from Jan. 1, 2018 thru the end of October 2019, not just till September 30, 2019. The first part of this document breaks down the Domestic cases, which reports were made, into different categories: INTIM (Intimidation), SIMPLE, A Misdemeanor, Aggravated, 2nd or more Domestics and Aggravated against a child under 12 years old. She broke each of these categories down per month and for the year. Officers took reports for these. The second page shows how many times officers were dispatched. As you can see not all dispatches resulted in a report. Some reasons but limited to: Already made a report and just wanted to speak to an officer regarding the original incident, the crime did not happen with in our jurisdiction, the person reporting does not want to be a victim and is not giving enough information to determine if a crime had occurred, the situation is verbal and no one is feeling threatened or at risk of any danger but the caller just wanted an officer to stop by before something may happen. The incidents are broken down per month.

I spoke with the Fargo Police Department's Office of Professional Standards Sergeant regarding Fargo Officers involved in domestics from Jan. 1, 2018 through September 30, 2019. He stated there have been no incidents to which he is aware of.

The Fargo Police Department would follow ND State Statute.
12.1 - 17 - 01.2. Domestic violence .
1. For purposes of this section "family or household member" means family or household
member as defined in section 14 - 07.1 - 01 .
2. A person is guilty of an offense if that person willfully causes:
a. Bodily injury to the actor's family or household member;
b. Substantial bodily injury to the actor's family or household member; or
c. Serious bodily injury to the actor's family or household member.
3. The offense is:
a. A class B misdemeanor for the first offense under subdivision a of subsection 2
and a class A misdemeanor for a second or subsequent offense under this
section or sections 12.1 - 17 - 01, 12.1 - 17 - 01.1, or 12.1 - 17 - 02 involving the
commission of domestic violence, as defined in section 14 - 07.1 - 01. For purposes
of this subdivision, a prior conviction includes a conviction of any assault offense
in which a finding of domestic violence was made under a law or ordinance of
another state which is equivalent to this section.
b. A class A misdemeanor for an offense under subdivision b of subsection 2 and a
class C felony for an offense under subdivision c of subsection 2 .
c. A class B felony for an offense under subdivision b or c of subsection 2 if the
victim is under twelve years of age.
4. A person charged with an offense under this section must be prosecuted in district
court .

I believe this is the information you have requested. If there is anything else, feel free to contact me.

Have an awesome day.

Below is the body of your email.

October 28, 2019

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the North Dakota Open Records Law, I hereby request the following records:

Materials related to incidents of domestic violence or intimate partner abuse committed both by members of this department and members of the public.

- All policies guiding law enforcement response to incidents of domestic violence, as well as all available reports and statistics regarding the number of related calls for this type of disturbance or crime for the period from January 1, 2018 through September 30, 2019. If incidents of this sort are categorized under a particular type or incident type number, provision of the proper record keeping terminology would be appreciated.

- All policies, disciplinary procedures, reports, reporting requirements, or available statistics regarding the alleged or actual act of domestic violence (also known as intimate partner abuse) committed in any form by an employee or member of this law enforcement agency

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days.

Sincerely,

Beryl Lipton

Sgt. Kevin Volrath
Fargo Police Department
105 25 ST. N
Fargo, ND 58102

Office Phone Number (701)241-1416