(a)
The San Diego Association of Governments may serve as the regional clearinghouse for criminal justice data involving domestic violence. The association may obtain monthly crime statistics from all law enforcement agencies in San Diego County. These law enforcement agencies may include their domestic violence supplements in the monthly crime reports that are supplied to the association. The association may obtain client-based data regarding clients or victims of domestic violence who seek protection in San Diego County shelters.
(b)
Contingent upon the appropriation of funds therefor, the association shall do all of the following:
(1)
Create a standardized, uniform intake form, to be referred to as a Compilation of Research and Evaluation Intake Instrument, also known as C.O.R.E., for use in San Diego County’s domestic violence shelters. This form shall be completed and ready to use in the field for data collection purposes not later than March 31, 1997. The C.O.R.E. intake form shall be standardized to compile the same information from all clients for all shelters.
(2)
Collect and analyze the standardized, uniform intake form in order to compile information including, but not limited to, victim sociodemographic characteristics, descriptions of domestic violence incidents pertaining to each victim and services needed by domestic violence shelter clients within San Diego County.
(3)
Use the collected client-based data to describe the nature and scope of violence from the perspective of domestic violence shelter clients and to determine the service needs of clients and what gaps in service delivery exist, so that resources can be appropriately targeted and allocated. All data supplied to the association shall be stripped of any information regarding the personal identity of an individual to protect the privacy of domestic violence shelter clients.
(4)
Establish an advisory committee in order to facilitate the research effort and to assess the value of the research project. The advisory committee shall consist of representation from the shelters, as well as members of the San Diego County Domestic Violence Council, local justice administrators, and the principal investigator. The advisory committee shall meet at least four times before April 30, 1999, to review the progress of the research, including research methodology, data collection instruments, preliminary analyses, and work product as they are drafted. Advisory committee members shall evaluate the final research product in terms of applicability and utility of findings and recommendations.