DVPSA
Domestic Violence Protection Services Agency was founded with the idea that battered women need more than a protection order to ensure their safety. Statistics indicate that 50% of the homicides of female spouses/partners were committed by the abuser after these women separated from them. In 2008, the MO Uniform Crime Reporting Program documented 29,465 domestic violence incidents in the state. Battery of a current/former spouse accounted for 24% of incidents, 32% were between individuals living or formerly living together, and nearly 11% were between couples with children in common. Still, these numbers are low because domestic violence often occurs in private, and is not often reported because of shame or fear of reprisal. One study noted that only one-fifth of physical assaults by intimate partners are reported to police.
The police respond to such violence, but they do not take measures to prevent it. This gap in security is the reason for our existence.