POLICE SAY DOMESTIC CALLS MOST DANGEROUS

When Independence, Mo., police officer Terry Foster responded to a domestic disturbance call this week, he walked into what many officers believe is the most dangerous situation they face.

That belief proved painfully true, when Jeffrey Keith shot and killed Foster, who was three weeks away from retirement. Keith then set his bedroom on fire and died in the flames.

Foster, 54, had responded previously to three domestic violence calls at the home Keith shared with his parents and had been able to diffuse the situation, police said. Keith, 34, who was mentally ill, had not been violent during Foster's previous visits, the family said.

Law enforcement agencies say the tragedy was unusual in one sense -- officers are much more likely to be assaulted than killed during domestic disturbances. But the fear is always there, they say.

"Without question, it is one of the most dangerous calls an officer can go on," said John Firman, research coordinator for the International Association of Police Chiefs in Alexandria, Va. "Domestic violence is an offense which tends to escalate. The officer never knows what level the violence has reached when he goes to the door."

Over the past 10 years, no Cape Girardeau police officer has suffered injuries requiring hospitalization connected with a domestic assault call, police Cpl. Rick Schmidt said.

The last time Schmidt was injured when responding to such a call was in 1999. He had been to the residence on similar calls before and was on a first-name basis with members of the household, he said. But that time, the man tried to escape and hit Schmidt in the face.

"The worst thing is we go to these all the time," Schmidt said. "You can get complacent because you do them so often, and you let your guard down."

Family violence was the seventh leading cause of death for officers nationwide between 1985 and 1994, said Sgt. Gregg Wilkinson, an investigator with the domestic violence unit in Independence. The FBI reported this month that only one officer was killed during a domestic disturbance in 1999, the latest year statistics were available.

But from 1985 to 1994, 30 percent of all the officers assaulted were responding to domestic dispute calls, Wilkinson said.

Anything can happen'

"Probably the reason the death rate is so low is that, in general, officers go into these situations on a heightened state of readiness," Wilkinson said. "But there are such strong emotions in the house that anything can happen very quickly."

Foster's death also was unusual because Keith was a mentally ill son living with his parents, while a vast majority of domestic disturbances occur between spouses or partners.

"We're seeing an increase in elderly abuse, or family member on family member," Wilkinson said. "But it's still true that most of these cases are a man beating up a woman."

Domestic disturbances will always be difficult situations for police, Firman said, so the only thing that can change is how officers respond. The police chiefs association is working with law agencies around the country to improve knowledge of legal issues and proper responses.

"Our main point is that this is not a police problem, it's a societal problem," Firman said. "Police are not social workers. They need to work in teams with social workers and other advocates to try and break down these situations before it gets to a point where weapons are used."

That approach has become more common in recent years .

Special unit formed

Three years ago, Columbia, Mo., officials started a Domestic Violence Enforcement Unit that includes one county and two city officers, two prosecuting attorneys who work only domestic cases, a representative of a women's shelter and a probation-parole officer.

The city still has uniformed officers respond to the original call, but the domestic violence team takes over soon after, said Detective Jeff Westbrook, a member of the unit.

That unit contacts the victim and offers advice on legal and social services available, gathers evidence such as photos and witness statements and presents the case to prosecutors.

"We now have what we call evidence-based prosecutions," Westbrook said. "That means cases are based on what evidence we can gather rather than on whether the victim is willing to testify."

That's important to officers, who used to arrest abusers knowing that the victim would probably decide not to testify, so the case would be dropped.

"It is still a frustrating situation," Westbrook said. "But it used to be more frustrating because we knew when we arrested a guy on Friday night, the victim would tell the prosecutor on Monday she wouldn't testify. We'd think, What are we doing the work for?'"

Independence also has a unit designed specifically to investigate domestic abuse, which works closely with a women's shelter to make sure victims know they can escape the situation, Wilkinson said.

"For years, people said what goes on behind closed doors was not our business," Wilkinson said. "But we now know that domestic violence affects us all, from lives lost to teaching a behavior that will continue to hurt us in the future."

Nationwide, many municipalities and states have enacted tougher laws to punish abusers, Firman said. Technology also is being used to gather more evidence on potential dangers at specific homes before officers get there.

"With technology today, officers ought to be able to go to the door knowing the previous level of violence in the home, whether a gun is in the house, those types of things," Firman said.

Staff writer Tony Hall contributed to this report.