One day last summer, Milwaukee police realized a woman named Emma, a 19-year-old known to be in a high-risk abusive relationship, was in active danger.
It wasn’t because she or a witness phoned 911 to report what was happening. It wasn’t because an officer or an advocate stopped by her home and saw something wrong.
Yet officers still knew Emma was in a vehicle, and where it was. They knew the details of her case file. They could access audio of her surroundings.
Eventually, the car Emma was in stopped. Officers went to the residence and found her being held in the basem*nt.
Emma was taken to safety. Her abuser was taken in handcuffs.
It was all thanks to a new piece of technology given to Emma because of the high-risk situation she was living in. Disguised as an everyday item, the device has a button that can trigger a GPS tracker, an emergency call to law enforcement and upload a case file automatically to dispatchers.
The device made its debut last year in a pilot program with theMilwaukee Domestic Violence High Risk Team, a collection of law enforcement and domestic violence prevention officials, which long before 2023established itself as a highly effective unitat stopping the most dangerous domestic violence cases from turning fatal.
The impact of the device so far is “startling,” according to Carmen Pitre, the president and CEO ofSojourner Family Peace Center, the largest provider of services for domestic abuse victims in Wisconsin. Survivors who use it report a greater sense of safety, along with better feelings and better connection toward law enforcement, she said.
The device’s origins are in Milwaukee, too. It was developed by Liz Kohler, the sister of a woman who was killed in a domestic violence-related homicide in 2007. She is hopeful the new technology will become a staple in law enforcement agencies and domestic violence shelters around the globe.
“We have a shortage of officers nationwide. We have a shortage of advocates nationwide. And yet crime, domestic violence, continues to tick up,” Kohler said. “These technology solutions that extend the reach of an agency to be able to protect people – that’s what I’d like to see more of.”
Needing to do more
Kohler was in her early 30s when her younger sister, Marguerite, entered a new relationship.
There were red flags here and there. He would phone her repeatedly until she answered to tell him where she was, for example.
Kohler, now 50, first turned her attention toward domestic violence shortly after she graduated college, where she made friends who had experienced it. As she entered the communications field, where many of her clients were in the healthcare industry, Kohler volunteered for the Milwaukee Women’s Center for several years.
Despite her familiarity with the issue, it didn’t register to Kohler or her family that Marguerite’s relationship was abusive. Many victims struggle to communicate to others about their experiences.
Marguerite was killed by her abuser in 2007.
“My sister was this fierce, brave, bold creature,” Kohler said. “I just figured if something was going on with her, she would tell me.
“I think she felt very strongly that she didn’t want us to have to worry about her. I think that’s common among survivors. She was really strong and that’s why we didn’t know.”
After her sister’s passing, Kohler tried focusing on work and raising her own kids. But she said she was nagged by a sense that she had to do something more.
In 2021, she took a substantial cut in pay by leaving her communications job and began working instead in victim services for the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office. It was there she learned more about how pervasive domestic violence is.
“It was really overwhelming,” she said.
Officials in Milwaukee have noteda rise in domestic violence incidentssince the summer of 2019, even before the pandemic made daily life more difficult for millions of Americans.
In the four years prior to the pandemic, Milwaukee averaged nearly 15 domestic violence-related homicides per year. From 2020 through 2023, the city averaged almost 35, according to the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Sojourner, which counts domestic violence-related homicides differently than police, has counted 15 in Milwaukee County this year as of late May.Seven occurred in April.
“The tip of the iceberg are these homicides, but just below that are thousands of cases that are on the verge of a homicide,” Pitre said.
Coupled with that, Kohler was struck by the number of witnesses who worried about their own safety as they considered testifying as part of a prosecution.
She began thinking about how to keep people safe and recalled her work in communications for the healthcare industry. Fall detection devices – which involve GPS locators and automatic calls to emergency operators for people who cannot help themselves up – have existed for years. She helped bring some of that technology to market.
“I grew up in those companies,” she said. “My background gave me the knowledge of who the big players were that I wanted to bring in as partners.”
Expanding use of the device
Within six months, Kohler founded a company, Nexion Solutions, to develop the device, which she and Pitre requested not be described by the Journal Sentinel so that abusers remain unaware of it.
The Milwaukee Police Department did not accommodate an interview about the technology, citing concerns over the publicity of the device.
It is, however, waterproof and military-grade tough – able to withstand attempts at destroying it.
About 60 people used itduring a pilot project last year. According to Kohler, more than 90% of users reported reduced levels of post-traumatic stress symptoms, better perceptions of law enforcement and an overall improved sense of safety.
She said police response times for emergency calls from the device were seven times faster than average. It was crucial in interrupting two abductions and an assault.
Outside of Milwaukee, the device is in use only in rural Oklahoma, rural Ohio and suburban New Jersey.
Sojourner is actively fundraising to purchase more devices. The organization serves about 10,000 clients every year, Pitre said, and about 75% are considered high risk of lethal violence. Her goal is to one day distribute the device to every high-risk client.
“What’s apparent is that clients love this added layer,” Pitre said.
It was that added layer that saved Emma, the woman abducted last summer, from what she thought were her final moments. Kohler has kept tabs on Emma since then. She recently finished her first year of college.
That makes Kohler hopeful that the nagging feeling she’s had since her sister’s death, of having to do more to make a difference, may one day be satisfied.
Where to find help for domestic violence
Domestic violence advocates can help with safety planning. Calls to advocates are confidential and do not involve law enforcement.
·The National Domestic Violence Hotline is800-799-7233.
·TheSojourner Family Peace Centerin Milwaukee operates a 24-hour confidential hotline at414-933-2722.
·We Are Here Milwaukee provides information on culturally specific organizations atweareheremke.org.
·The Women’s Center in Waukeshahas a 24-hour hotline at 262-542-3828.
·TheAsha Project, which provides culturally specific services for African American women and others in Milwaukee, provides a crisis line from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at414-252-0075.
·TheUMOS Latina Resource Centerin Milwaukee offers bilingual, bicultural domestic violence, sexual assault and anti-human trafficking supportive services and operates a 24-hour hotline at414-389-6510.
·The Gerald L. Ignace Indian Health Center offers culturally sensitive, trauma-informed services for those who haveexperienced domestic or sexual violence and can be reached at414-383-9526.
·Our Peaceful Home, which serves Muslim families and is a program of the Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition, operates a crisis line at 414-727-1090.
·TheHmong American Women’s Association, which serves the Hmong and Southeast Asian community, has advocates available at414-930-9352from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
·End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin has a statewide directory of resources atendabusewi.org/get-help.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Woman, Sojourner make device to help those at risk domestic violence
