As part of a statewide initiative to combat domestic violence, the Carroll County state's attorney's office will receive five cellular phones for abuse victims to use in emergencies.
The phones are part of a state effort to get businesses involved in helping to protect victims of domestic violence, officials say.
Partners Against Violence: The CEO Challenge, announced last month by the Attorney General's and Lieutenant Governor's Family Violence Council, is designed to confront domestic violence in the workplace by enlisting employers in the fight.
Last year in Maryland, 14,721 protective orders were sought by victims of domestic violence and an estimated half of those created problems in the workplace, state officials said.
The comprehensive program was founded on the belief that businesses can be a catalyst for change in the struggle against domestic violence in their communities, said Holly Funk, director of the Family Violence Council, which was formed by the governor's office in 1996.
The council, co-chaired by Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. and Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, wants business leaders to realize that family violence can spill over into the workplace, costing employers an estimated $3 billion to $6 billion annually because of worker absenteeism, increased health care costs, higher turnover and lower productivity.
"We also want business owners to realize that becoming partners is a mutually beneficial relationship," Funk said.
State leads way
Gov. Parris N. Glendening ordered Oct. 1 that Maryland, as an employer, would initiate domestic violence awareness training for its employees and develop domestic violence policies within the next year.
Audrey Schaefer, a spokeswoman for Bell Atlantic Mobile, said the cellular phone initiative began in 1996, with the donation of 25 phones each to Montgomery and Prince George's counties. Another 25 were given in August to the Howard County state's attorney's office.
In all, 300 phones have been donated at a cost of about $150,000 over the three years, Schaefer said.
In Prince George's County, the Bell Atlantic program reaped perhaps its biggest reward this year when a man, confronted at work by his shotgun-toting ex-wife, used a donated phone to get police help, Schaefer said.
In addition to the five phones headed for Carroll County, Schaefer said 100 have been earmarked for the Maryland State Police domestic violence initiative.
