Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch announced the launch of a new tool for law enforcement and courts statewide to use in reporting and updating incidents of domestic violence.

The system known as MSDVR (Mississippi Domestic Violence Reporting) will be a single statewide repository for domestic violence reports, utilizing existing report platforms to make integration for law enforcement as seamless as possible.

“When a law enforcement officer responds to a domestic violence call, information about the parties is essential to his own safety, as well as the safety of the parties and bystanders,” Fitch said. “MSDVR is a user-friendly system that will promote accurate, secure, legible, and quickly accessible domestic violence reports. We have made it as easy as possible to get the information they need when they arrive on-scene and to protect victims throughout the process.”

MSDVR utilizes the same platform as the Department of Public Safety’s eCrash system and was created by the same developers, the University of Alabama Center for Advanced Public Safety (AL CAPS). Over the past several weeks, it has been beta-tested by Attorney General’s Office staff, local law enforcement, and court clerks to ensure the product is intuitive, user-friendly, and ready to launch statewide. It replaces the outdated Reportbeam system for Domestic Violence Reports.

Amongst its other features, MSDVR includes:

• Geolocating to easily save accurate location information
• Injury diagrams to mark size, type, and location of injuries, as well as a function for uploading photographs
• Fields for utilizing the Lethality Assessment Protocol to ensure the safety of victims.

“My office has created training guides and videos to help law enforcement and court clerks utilize MSDVR effectively and efficiently,” continued General Fitch. “We will continue to work with our partners to provide additional materials, as needed, and it has been integrated into our training on domestic violence response. We are grateful for the ongoing opportunity to work with our partners in criminal justice to perfect this new and important tool.”

The counterpart to MSDVR, the new Domestic Abuse Protection Order Registry, is in production now and will be rolled out later this year. Until its launch, the existing registry on Reportbeam will remain functional.

Attorney General Fitch offers a variety of resources for victims of domestic violence, as well as the law enforcement and court personnel who work with them on her website, including:

• Quick reference guide for law enforcement on domestic violence law
• Brochures on Domestic Abuse Protection Orders (DAPOs) and Emergency DAPOs
• Forms and orders for court clerks
• Information on the Address Confidentiality Program
• An interactive, county-by-county Victim Services Resource Directory
• Information and forms for the Crime Victim Compensation program
• Brochures on strangulation, stalking, dating violence, and human trafficking

Several of the brochures and program applications have also been translated into Spanish and Vietnamese.