Tulsa Police Proactive In Preventing Domestic Violence Deaths

Ten people have been killed by their spouse this year in Tulsa, but eleven questions are making the difference between life and death for many Tulsa domestic violence victims.

It's a method Tulsa police invented and have been using for years, and now the whole state is following suit under a new law that aims to save domestic violence victims from becoming murder victims.

Read More About The Lethality Act

The law requires officers ask any first-time domestic violence victim eleven questions and connect the victim to victim services.

In Tulsa, 800 people have been asked the questions so far, and not one has later died due to domestic violence.

Mayor Dewey Bartlett said he first realized in 1993 how huge of a problem domestic violence is in Tulsa.

"Three women were killed, brutally, all as a result of domestic violence," he said.

One of those women was Margaret Cheney; she was shot four times by her husband, Garry. She had a protective order against him, which he violated four times before killing her in a parking garage.

Margaret told her friends she'd have to become a statistic before police did anything to help her.

"We had a system in place at that time, didn't deal with it very well," Bartlett said.

Two decades later, Tulsa police are being innovative in preventing domestic violence murders.

Police are asking first-time domestic violence victims a list of questions, including:

• Does the victim think the person will try to kill the victim?
• Has the person ever tried to choke the victim?

Tulsa Police Chief, Chuck Jordan said, "We're trying to determine, is this woman, or this partner, in a lethal situation?"

Jordan said the questions are backed by research.

"This came a lot from victim studies, you know, what was going on with the women who end up being killed," he said.

Other questions are:

• Is the person unemployed?
• Does the victim have a child that the person knows is not his or her own child?

The officer also connects the victim to services, like the Family and Safety Center and DVIS, which helped 16,000 victims last year.

"It's that extra step of saying, 'While I'm here, why don't I put you on the phone and let you talk to someone who can help you,'" said DVIS Executive Director, Tracey Lyall.

Domestic violence also affects children. A third of the domestic violence murders in Oklahoma, resulting in the death of a parent, are witnessed by children.

The city will host a domestic violence summit next year.