Franklin County Domestic Violence hotline helping more people after new program

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FRANKLIN COUNTY (WSLS 10) - The Franklin County Sheriff's Office said it's seeing success in just a few months after implementing a new program to stop domestic violence.

Wednesday we told you the Roanoke Valley is making changes in light of a new report on domestic violence fatalities.

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"Sometimes you see physical abuse that is very heart wrenching to look at," said Cynthia Treadway, Franklin County Family Resource Center.

Treadway works with victims of domestic violence and recently has been helping more and more people.

It's because the Franklin County Sheriff's Office started up a new program this year to help stop domestic violence deaths.

"We wanted to make sure that we keep homicide numbers down because in these types of situations homicide could be the end result for a lot of these victims," said Katrina Hancock, domestic violence advocate coordinator for the Franklin County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies use what is called a Lethality Assessment Tool. It's a screening process involving a set of 11 standardized questions to predict if a victim is likely to endure further harm.

Since the program started on January 25th, 29 people were screened and 23 of them were considered possibly at risk and required to talk to the domestic violence hotline.

"We want to impact as many victims as possible to know there are services for them," said Hancock. "That they can choose to get out of that situation where they feel like they don't have hope of getting out."

Click here for our list of domestic violence resources