I want to call to order the meeting of the legal city council, public safety and criminal justice reform committee meeting.

Court called role.

Hobbs.

Williams here.

Kramer.

Here.

Nick Fearson.

Here.

Naldon.

Morris.

Serantu.

Here.

Five present and also present our council members Driscoll and Gaddis.

Thank you all for being here today.

Would you and our council president?

Would you please uh we want to have first our domestic violence report data from Chief Chief Prosecutor?

Thank you for being here.

Thank you so much, Councilman Hobbs, for having me.

Thank you to the members of Council, President Williams.

We appreciate your time today.

I first want to take the opportunity to introduce the Toledo Prosecutor's Office, who almost all of them are in attendance today behind us here.

This is a fabulous group of public servants who are dedicated to seeking truth and justice in our city.

This is a team worth bragging about because the success we are here to share regarding domestic violence prosecutions belongs to all of us.

We share the vision, the heartache, and the workload.

We are there for each other to strategize cases, to cover dockets when life happens outside of work, and to help pick each other back up when we start to feel buried under the weight of it all.

I am so proud of these people and truly honored to get to work alongside them at the Toledo Prosecutor's Office.

Josh Arder, Monica Sass, Nancy McGuinness, and Michelle Turvey.

Michelle's thank you.

Thank you, Council Member McPherson.

Michelle served in the unit uh for a long time.

She actually just transitioned out, and Nancy is transitioning in, but wanted to recognize all the hard work as the numbers today really reflect her time in the unit as well.

We are here thanks to the funding from city council that we are fortunate to have three full-time domestic violence prosecutors who each cover two courtrooms apiece.

What these folks have managed to do in just a few short years is remarkable.

They have increased convictions in domestic violence cases, spent more time with victims than ever before, and done so efficiently by taking less time to resolve cases.

Domestic violence has always been an issue in our community, but it has not always been a priority.

Kate Loom was the victim of pending criminal cases in several of our courts, and after her death, both the City of Toledo as well as the Lucas County prosecutors' offices created the first local domestic violence prosecution units.

The Toledo Prosecutor's Office went through many different iterations, but due to lack of funding and high turnover, it was difficult to maintain consistent staffing in this high stress role.

That all changed in 2023, thanks to our law director's leadership and funding from city council to make an effective domestic violence unit in the prosecutor's office a reality.

Once we were fully funded, we set out to train these prosecutors in the unique dynamics of intimate partner violence and how to prepare a case for trial without relying solely on a victim's testimony, understanding that there are many reasons that victims are not able to participate in the legal process.

We often say it is not a victim's job to prosecute her abuser.

That's our job.

Once the unit was up and running, we were curious to track our progress and wanted to know how, if at all, the outcomes of DV cases were different since implementing the unit.

So Josh Arder and I began working with folks from all over the country to compile and analyze data from our court.

We partnered with some incredibly talented folks represented by the organizations you see on the screen here to take a look at our overall caseload and specifically track the progress of our DV unit.

Before we look at the numbers, I want to be clear that progress for purposes of prosecution is about intervention and successfully prosecuting incidents that have already occurred.

We are not in the business of primary prevention, so we cannot say that our work has reduced the incidence of domestic violence in our community.

Rather, the rate of domestic violence crimes in Toledo remains steady, as it has for many years.

You see on this slide that the amount of domestic violence cases in Toledo Municipal Court is regularly around 18% of our total criminal caseload.

This represents a large portion of what we do and certainly justifies the need for specialized prosecutors to give these cases the attention they deserve.

DB was the most charged criminal offense in our court in 2024, followed only by disorderly conduct.

While RDB prosecutors handle all DV cases labeled DV, the primary focus of the unit is to address intimate partner violence that is based in power and control and reflects a pattern behavior that often escalates in severity.

For purposes of this study, we look at the year prior to the unit being fully staffed and the two years after for comparison.

Since that time, the City of Toledo has increased convictions on domestic violence cases.

Anyone who works in criminal justice can appreciate that these numbers are not easy to come by.

And this increase represents a Herculean effort on behalf of these prosecutors in a relatively short time.

But we have not just increased our conviction rate, we have significantly increased enhanciable convictions on DV charges.

This means that based on our conviction in Toledo Municipal Court, an abuser will be charged with a felony if they reoffend.

So we have more meaningful consequences if someone continues their pattern of abusive behavior in relationships.

That is huge.

And while these numbers may not seem drastic, please remember that these numbers represent people's lives.