QR code gives domestic violence victims access abuser can’t find
DuPage County has launched a new tool to help victims of domestic violence access resources in a safe and discreet manner.
Anyone in possible need of help or protection will be given a QR code they can scan with their smartphones that will provide them with information on how to get help, several county officials announced at a news conference Wednesday.
Typically when officers respond to a domestic violence call, they provide the victim with a paper copy of agencies and other resources that provide assistance.
Often victims will not take the paper out of fear their abuser will see it, said John Caldwell, a fire medic with the Lisle-Woodridge Fire District, who helped bring the QR code to fruition.
“Having a QR code for them to scan, they can hide it easier on their phone in case they are ready to leave that abusive partner or leave the situation they are in,” Caldwell said.
The QR code created by the Family Violence Coordinating Council and the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office was a collaborative effort among many agencies and will supplement the paper copies that officers will still hand out.
The code can assist victims find the resources they need by bringing them to an alternate website, and they will be instructed by police what link to click to access the information on that website, DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said. The alternate website is designed to protect the victim if an abuser views or takes a victim’s phone with the QR code stored on it, he said.
The code contains links to resources such as the YWCA, Department of Children and Family Services, the DuPage County State’s
Attorney’s Office, Family Shelter Services, DuPage County Legal Aid and other sexual violence and domestic violence support groups and mental health services.
Victims can get answers about emergency shelters, counseling, orders of protection, legal assistance and more.
“Everything that police and prosecutors do is guided by two concerns: protecting the public and defending the rights of victims,” Berlin said. “We do everything we can to provide advocacy, compassion, support and resources to victims and their families.
“The concern is that a perpetrator is going to know that the victim is accessing resources, is accessing counseling or seeing different agencies regarding the case, and could react in a negative manner and cause harm to the victim,” he said. “The whole idea is to provide victims and survivors with as much protection as we can. It’s simple to use once it’s explained to victims.”
The DuPage County Health Department is creating a training video for area police officers so they can help implement the program, Berlin said.
Nicole Ousley, manager of Advocacy and Crisis Intervention/Sexual Violence Support Services for the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, said this year alone her organization has provided services for 65 survivors of abuse.
“That number just gives you an idea of how significant
the QR code could be to survivors,” Ousley said.
The YWCA Metropolitan Chicago was one of the members of the committee that helped work on the QR code. The organization works with hospital staff, including emergency room nurses and nurses who deal with sexual assaults, in six hospitals in the county, and they plan to train hospital staff to implement the QR code as another resource to help victims, Ousley said.
“Initiation of the QR code provides the ability for us to offer services on a greater level throughout the community,” she said.
DuPage County Judge Ann Celine O’Hallaren Walsh, presiding judge of specialty and juvenile courts division, said the process to create the QR code took about a year. It will soon be available in Spanish, and work is being done to add other languages as well.
Walsh said QR codes may be in use on a local level, but it is likely that DuPage County is the first in Illinois to offer this comprehensive resource guide on a largescale level.
“We took the idea and jumped with it,” she said. “One of our goals is to expand this idea, and we want everyone to take off with this. We see this as being the future of providing a very useful and safe tool to victims of domestic violence.”